noon
One day -- just such a windy morning as this -- my father , my brother Osric , and I were out with our birds , and did indifferently well , so far as I can remember . I had new falcon with me -- a haggard of the rock which I had mewed and manned myself . It was the first time I had tried her on the Down , and she began by giving trouble ; then did better , but finally gave more trouble than at first , as you shall hear . Towards noon I found myself separate from our company on a great ridge of the Down where it slopes steeply to the forest , as you know it does in one place . The flocks were out feeding on the slopes below me , and their herds -- three or four boys and girls -- were lying together by a patch of gorse , but one of them stood up after a while and shaded her eyes to look over the forest . Then I saw a lonely bird making way for the heronry . I remember it plainly ; in the sun it looked shining white .