Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/68

 stoop, at which he was struck by the talons of the falcon, put an end to all bravado. One of these hawks having caught a land- rail (Crex pratensis), which it was about to eat on a house-top, instantly gave chase to another rail that was sprung, and, still re- taining its first victim, secured the second with its other foot : — it bore both off together. Heavy birds, on the other hand, are struck to the ground, and there eaten. Mr. Sinclaire's hawks have occasionally struck the head off their "quarry" at a blow, but have never, like one of Colonel Thornton's, divided a snipe in two at a single stroke of the foot.

The finest flights are those in which the birds "climb the air." Once, when from fifty to sixty spectators were present, a wood- cock sprung near Anderson's Town, in the Falls, "climbed the air," and the hawk swept after him, until both got out of sight, of all persons present, except one, who insisted that the quarry was captured : — it soon proved so, by the hawk's coming down with its victim. The trial between the birds, which should be higher, was so well contested from the moment the woodcock sprung and went right up, that the issue was most eagerly looked to : numerous even bets pended on it. Again, at the head of Colin Glen, in the same district, a woodcock, pursued by one of the hawks, "climbed" until both were lost to view. The death of the woodcock was, however, soon announced, by its rapidly falling through the air until soused in the deep pool of the rocky river, called from the peculiar sound its waters make, the "Rumbling Burn." It was observed on examining the victim, that it had been struck on the back by the hawk, but not laid hold of, which accounted for its coming down singly.

Tame pigeons are sometimes flown at, in lieu of game, and afford excellent flights. One day, in the autumn of 1842, when a large party, consisting of ladies as well as gentlemen, were as- sembled at Drumlamford, in Ayrshire, there was some splendid hawking at tame pigeons, three of winch flew admirably, and one rose so high into the air that it was lost to the sight of all the numerous spectators but one or two. The hawk succeeded in "putting it in," when the pigeon was found to have been struck