Title

Hawking on the Downs, near Wallingford, 1850. Creator: Unknown.

Caption

Hawking on the Downs, near Wallingford, 1850. 'A fine exhibition came off...on the [Berkshire] Downs, at about a mile and a half from the Wallingford station of the Great Western Railway. A quarry of seven blue rock pigeons, the swiftest that could be got, was flown. Five were killed, one escaping entirely, the other taking refuge in a stack of faggots, where it probably died, as it was much injured. One flight was most beautiful: the hawk was flown, and immediately soared an immense height, following the falconer for more than half a mile, and pounced upon the quarry with almost inconceivable rapidity, in fact like a stone; the pigeon was struck to the ground, and rebounded with the blow. Mr. Barr, the falconer, had six peregrins with him, though four only were flown, all of which perfectly understood their work'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/The Print Collector

Reference

HRM22A36_225

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

License type

Rights managed

Available size

46,8Mb (3,4Mb) / 16,5in x 11,0in / 4960 x 3300 (300dpi)

Keywords

leisure animal countryside hill hills England people male looking job man men hat prey bird birds hobby guy occupation watching clothes British geography hunting bird of prey dress rustic cruelty location Victorian berkshire century Britain profession newspapers press pigeons clothing concept pigeon top hat top hats falconer falconers falcon hawk pastime APPAREL B&W peregrine falcon DOWNS raptor posh engraved engraving 19th century falconry black & white black and white HUNTSMAN B W Falco peregrinus nineteenth century rural The Print Collector geographical feature hawking Illustrated London News rural life TGN ILN newspaper animal cruelty Unknown Regionalism tophat Harrison Weir Weir Harrison cruelty to animals 19th-century Harrison William Weir Weir Harrison William clothing & dress fashion & clothing