The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-28 00:00:00

a wild and live quarry, he calls the attention of the passing
birds of prey. Nov there is a point from one or other of
the butcher-birds, and as the wild hawk approaches their
alarm gets to its highest pitch. \Vhen the falconer judges
the hawk to be sufficiently near, he lets the pole-pigeon
creep back into its lodge and the decoy-hawk rest on the
ground, and then, by means of the string, he draws the
other pigeon out of its box, the trapdoor by which it was
confined closing back as the pigeon is drawn out. Happy
to be loose, the pigeon flutters about ; but now there is a
stoop from the Peregrine, who is, however, shy at times ,
and does not bind its prey at once. " Old Granny," the
hawk I have already mentioned, made eight or nine stoops
before fixing on the lure. When, however, this is done,
the pigeon is drawn slowly into the net by means of the
string which passes through the eye of the pin, and then
the bow or clap-net is pulled rapidly over it.
Ono could scarcely imagine how interesting it is to see
the active guard mounted by the butcher-birds. As we
wanted to witness all the proceedings, we cincealed our-
selves in the hut, while at about two miles distance B.
Barr let loose our little tierce], "La Tremoille." Imme-
diately there was a point from the butcher-birds; the de-
coys were acted upon, and, as the butcher-birds crept
shrieking into their bower, Mollen pulled the net-pigeon.
There was a stoop, then another, and, as La Tremoille
began plucking his bird, we might easily have closed the
net over him. We let him kill the bird, however, and
waited for Barr, who soon came up. As he was taking up
the hawk, Mellen thought he would have a joko at his
expense, and tried to pull the net over Robert's head as he
was leaning on the ground, but the wire broke, and the
joke was against us.
We stopped eight days at Valkenswaard, and a pleasant
time we had of it, spending all our time with the hawks
and studying their management. In the daytime we used
to go and fly them at the lure on the heather. The fine
style in which both Barre manage that instrument must
be seen to be credited ; indeed the Dutch falconers, good
as they are, were quite pleased to witness it, having
never during the Loo's brightest days called their hawks
otherwise than by a live pigeon in a string, which is quite
sufficient for heron hawking. They used also to tame

their hawks very slowly, not requiring them before the
month of May; but John Barr, requiring the service of
his lairds in France as soon as possible, has introduced the
Indian practice of keeping the birds awake until tamed.
In the evening we sat round the stove in the public room
of the Falcon, each with a bird on his fist, while some
played at cards or at draughts, and smoked Van Best's
cigars, which are excellent, and cost a mere trifle—less
than a halfpenny apiece. What a pretty picture a painter
might have drawn of this scene, which called to my mind
more than once the poetical romances of the middle
ages !
During our stay wo want once to see the cemetery of
the village, hoping to discover some souvenirs of the an-
cient falconers, but ware sorry to find that no monument
was there to tell of the Van den Eleuvals, the Daams, the

NV
Peels, the Daankers of old. The earth mounds over their
tombs have bean beaten down, and nothing tells of their
existence. There is, however, there the tomb of an Eng-
lishman -Mr. Hammond—who died at Valkenswaard

twenty-five years ago, having lived for several years in the
village, where ho took great interest in the hawks which
were kept there at the time. His is the only stone on
which a name can b 3 read.
At last snow sot in and covered all the heather ; and, as
we probably should not be able for some time to do an) -
thing with the hawks in the open, we quitted with regret
the kindly inhabitants of Valkenswaard—leaving, however,
the Barrs behind us, as there better than anywhere else
they can complete the education of their new recruits.
We had no sooner reached the Hague than the story of
our sojourn in Brabant spread like wildfire, everybody
wondering at the idea of strangers having spent a whole
week in a little unknown place to study all the details of the
old craft. Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, who
formerly took much interest in the Loo Club, graciously
invited MM. Alfonso and Pierre Pichot to the Palace,
where a most agreeable interview took place. Her Ma-
jesty seemed to take great interest in all that was said to
her respecting falconry by the two members of the French
club, being the only woman, perhaps, in our days, who
knows anything about hawks. She inquired after Mr.
Newcome and several of the old members of the Loo, and
expressed her regret that falconry should have fallen so
much out of use. Then, turning to other topics, she quite
captivated my travelling companions by the knowledge
she displayed of everything relative to art and literature.
H.H. the Prince of Orange was equally kind to both
MM. Alfonso and Pichot, who had several times the
honour of being entertained at his delightful palace of the
Noorhout.
The Hague is a charming town, prettily built, and most
picturesque, when covered with snow, as we saw it. Life
there is as calm and peaceful as in some quiet English
town, and the society most amiable and refined. We were
met by the must cordial welcome from everybody, and
enjoyed very pleasant receptions in some of the salons,
where a small but choice assembly of pretty women and
most agreeable men seemed to strive to make us forget our
home. This, lam ashamed to say, for my part I was
very near doing ; but, alas ! like the decoy pigeons I have
just deseribad, I am tied by a string to a large hut, which
is Paris, and already my falconer is pulling me back. I
therefore leave the Hague to-morrow, but with the hope
of returning again ; and my wishes are that ou my next
voyage I may have some hawking to tell about.

HORSES STRUCK OUT OF THEIR ENGAGE-

MENTS.

On the sth ult., at 1.45 p.m., Mrs. Allan out of the Liver-
pool Autumn Cup.
On the 16th inst., at 9 a.m., Arundel out of the Doning-
ton Hunt Open Steeplechase.
On the 16th inst., at 9 a.m., Lawrence out of Metropoli-
tan Handicap at Kingsbury.
On the 17th inst., at 9 a.m., Mother of Pearl, Orleton,
and Cabin Boy out of their Manchester engagements.
On the 18th inst., at 9 a.m., Corkscrew out of his Kings-
bury engagements.
On the 23d inst., at 9 a.m., Cabin Boy, Orleton, Trium-
pher, Ace of Trumps, and Black Swan out of their Ealing
engagements.
On the 23d inst., after 6 p.m., King Alfred out of his
Ealing engagements.
On the 24th inst., at 9 a.m., Elegance out of the Doning-
ton Park Handicap Hurdle Race.
On the 24th inst., at 9 a.m., The Swell (dead) out of all
his engagements.
On the 24th inst., at 9 a.m., Grey Peter (dead) out of all
his engagements.
On the 26th inst., at 9 a.m., Endsleigh out of the Don-
legit= Park Handicap Hurdle Race.
On the 27th inst., at 11.35 a.m., Chimney Sweep out of
the St. Albans Open Steeplechase.

NOMENCLAT ÜBE.
Mr. J. Markwell's :
Oolt foal by Adventurer out of Sister to Rap-
parse, by Rataplan ~. Speculator.

Mr. G. Angell's yearlings :

Brown colt (late Loving Cup) by Dusk—
Chalice C upbearer.
Bay filly by Caractacuu out of Lady Abbess.- Ursula.
Lord Anglesey's :
Chesnut filly foal by Oxford out of Her High-
ness ...

... Ladybird.

RACING FIXTURES FOR 1868.
FEBRUARY.
Lincoln lB I Nottingham Spring 25
Barrow 2O I Derby Spring

MARCH.
Liverpool Spring M.... 3 I Epsom Spring Meeting 24
Chelmsford Spring M. 10 Northampton
West Dray ton l2

'RIL.

Durham
Hendon l3
Newmarket Crayon 13

Lewes Spring
Newmarket Ist kipring 27

Chester 5
Wiachoster
York Spring
Salisbury l4

I Bath
Croydon Ist Summer
Harpenden
I Epsom Summer
NE.

West Drayton 1
Croydon 2d Summer
Ascot Summer 9
Windsor Summer
JU

I Bibury Club 23
Stockbridge
Chelmsford Summer 30
I Alexandra Park 3O
LY.
Huntingdon 2l
I Nottingham July
I Goodwood

Worcester Summer 2
Newmarket July
Reading
Liverpool l6

Brighton
Brighton Club 6
Lowes Summer
Wolverhampton ll
Stockton
Windsor
Egham lB
Hastings

SEPT

Warwick 1
Abingdon 3
Leicester
Doncaster 8
Richmond

Bedford 1
Newmarket 2d October 5
Cheltenham l3

Manchester

26, 27