THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 211
"Passage Hawks" are taken in Holland during the migration which occurs in
October, and are brought to England to be trained. Hawks of the year are
caught as well as some old birds; the latter, having led a wild life for two or
more seasons, require more patience and care in training than Eyesses, but the
grand sport obtained with them, at rooks and grouse, fully repays the trouble
taken in training them. I believe that they are used and much valued by the
"Old Hawking Club," whose headquarters are in the New Forest.
The number of Professional Falconers may be counted upon one's fingers.
The particulars as to these I have taken from Messrs. Salvia and Brodrick's
book.3 They say (page 4):—"Sir John Sebright tells us that all the Falconers
he had met with, either in England or on the Continent, came from Valken-
swaard, a village near to Bois le Duc in Holland : this village has been from time
immemorial, and is even to this day, famous for its Falconers, but we cannot go
so far as to pronounce its inhabitants the only European Falconers. About the
close of the 18th Century, Lord Orford and Col. Thornton made a considerable
effort to revive hawking in this country, for which end they introduced the
'Dutch School of Falconry' into England." This school chiefly differs from the
Scotch form of the sport in using "Passage Hawks," whereas Scotch falconers
employ "Eyesses." Of the Valkenswaard Falconers who from time to time came
to England, John Bekkers and his sons Peter and John, and a family of the name
of Dankers, were the most celebrated. John Pells was also an excellent falconer;
he was born in Holland in 1778, and when a boy of eleven he went to help the
falconers of the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, who was then the greatest encourager
of the sport upon the Continent. There were always some Gyr-falcons in this
establishment, and it was there Pells learned how to train this noble bird. He
came to England about 1800, and was in the service of Mr. John Hall, Col.
Wilson, the Duke of Leeds, the Duke of St. Albans, and others. The most
remarkable instance of a succession of falconers is in the family of the Flemings
of Renfrewshire the taste for hawking having descended for several generations
from father to son. I exhibit an engraving from a picture by How about 1811,
representing Mr. Fleming on horseback, with his falconer the famous John
Anderson, and George Harvey the "Cadger." John Anderson was born about
1749, in the Parish of Currie, a few miles west of Edinburgh, and died in 1833 at
the advanced age of 84. In later days another well-known Scotch falconer passed
away, viz., Peter Ballantyre, who died in November, 1884, aged 86 years. He
trained a wonderful game falcon, "Pearl," and it is a curious fact that she died
the same day as her master. Lord Eglinton had during his life many Scotch
falconers wholly unconnected with the Dutch school. The well-known family of
the Barrs are all dead. Of the family of the Rutherfords, of Lakenheath, two
brothers are in the service of Major Fisher. The adjoining village of Hockwold
has produced two well-known falconers, viz., John and Alfred Frost; the former
is falconer to the "Old Hawking Club," and Alfred Frost is with me.
A falconer should be a good rider and a first-class walker, but above all he must
be a patient man—bad tempered hawks are very trying, and unless a falconer is kind
and gentle, and always in company with his birds, poor sport will be the result.
3 "Falconry in the British Isles." By Francis H. Salvin and William Brodrick (Lond., 1885.)
Other works which will afford a large amount of information to those desirous of pursuing the
subject, may be mentioned, e.g., "Falconry—its Claims, History, and Practice," by Gage
E. Freeman, M.A. ["Peregrine" of the "Field,"] and F. H. Salvin (Lond., 1859); "Practical
Falconry," to which is added, "How I became a Falconer," by G. E. Freeman (1869); while
in Mr. J. E. Harting's book—"Essays on Sport and Natural History" (Lond., 1883) will be found
some capital papers on the "noble art."—Ed.
P 2