THE ZOOLOGIST
THIRD SERIES.
Vol. II.] MARCH, 1878. [No. 15. |
THE REVIVAL OF FALCONRY.
By Captain F.S. Dugmore, H.M.'s 64th Regiment.
Some ten or twelve years ago H.H. the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, in conversation with the writer, expressed the opinion that the revival and successful practice of Falconry in England was an impossibility; and I remember hearing my lamented friend the late Mr. E.C. Newcome, of Feltwell, express himself in almost equally discouraging terms. Probably none were better qualified to pronounce authoritatively on the subject than these accomplished sportsmen—themselves two of the most successful falconers that the nineteenth century has yet produced. So I felt there was nothing for it but to accept the adverse verdict, and to give up—for the moment at any rate—Falconry in England.
But I did not finally give up the fond dream of my earliest boyhood—the dream of some day assisting to remove from the musty category of "the things that were" and to restore to a recognized position among the pastimes of our day the noble old sport of chivalrous times, when battues of tame poultry and tournaments of doves were unknown, and when all the sports of the field were shared in, and graced by, the ladies, instead of being, as now, with but few exceptions, monopolized by the sterner sex.
I firmly believe that it is, in great measure, to the general participation of our ancestresses in the health-giving sports of the field, that we are indebted for the stalwart frames, the vigorous manhood, and the invincible pluck for which our English country
