TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
This book includes many accented charactors. These will display using
Unicode combining diacriticals. Some examples of how these will appear
on this device:
ḥ and Ḥ (h and H with dot below)
ā and Ā (a and A with macron above)
G͟H (G and H with a combining macron below)
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
placed at the end of the chapter. Reference numbers to notes have been
updated to continuous numbering.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
THE
BĀZ-NĀMA-YI NĀṢIRĪ
A PERSIAN TREATISE ON FALCONRY
[Illustration: I
HUNTING AND HAWKING SCENE
(FROM A PAINTING IN AN ANCIENT PERSIAN MS.)]
THE
BĀZ-NĀMA-YI NĀṢIRĪ
A PERSIAN TREATISE ON FALCONRY
_TRANSLATED BY_
LIEUT.-COLONEL D. C. PHILLOTT
SECRETARY, BOARD OF EXAMINERS, CALCUTTA,
GENERAL SECRETARY AND PHILOLOGICAL SECRETARY, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL,
FELLOW OF THE CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY, EDITOR OF THE PERSIAN
TEXT OF THE _QAWĀNĪN^u ’Ṣ-ṢAYYĀD_
ETC. ETC.
LONDON
BERNARD QUARITCH
1908
[_500 copies of this book have been printed_]
_TO_
HIS EXCELLENCY
THE ʿALA^U ’L-MULK
FORMERLY
GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF KIRMĀN
AND
PERSIAN BALUCHISTAN
_THIS TRANSLATION IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED_
IN MEMORY
OF
CERTAIN DAYS NOT UNPLEASANT WHEN WE MET IN THE
BĀG͟H
AND MINGLED OUR TEARS OVER OUR
EXILE
[Illustration: (Persian Writing)]
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION
The author of this work was _Ḥusām^u ’d-Dawlah_ Taymūr Mīrzā,[1] one
of the nineteen sons of Ḥusayn ʿAlī Mīrzā,[1] _Farmān-Farmā_, the
Governor of the Province of Fārs, and one of the sons of Fatḥ ʿAlī
Shāh, Qājār.
On the death of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh, in A.H. 1250 (A.D. 1834), general
confusion prevailed: the claimants to the Crown were many. The details
of these claims and the actions of the various aspirants to establish
them are exceedingly complicated and difficult to follow. The old
_Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān_ first mounted the throne at Teheran. His nephew
the young Muḥammad Mīrzā was then Governor of Tabrīz, and his troops
had not been paid for some time. However, receiving pecuniary support
from the English ambassador, and moral support from the Russian,
he marched on Teheran (putting out the eyes of a brother or two
_en route_), and was met by the army (hastily paid up to date, and
even in advance), of the _Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān_. The moving spirit in
Muḥammad Mīrzā’s army appears to have been an Englishman named Lynch,
who, nominally in command of the artillery, virtually managed what
cannot be better described than as “the whole show.” The camp of the
_Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān_ awoke in the morning to discover that, during the
night, their General had gone over to the enemy; and that Mr. Lynch,
having pointed four big guns at their camp, was haranguing them from
his position, and exhorting them to go home. His arguments appeared
reasonable. Part of the _Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān’s_ army crossed over to
Mr. Lynch, and part returned home. “In a moment, this fine army was
disbanded, scattered like the stars of the Great Bear, every man going
to his own place.”
Muḥammad Mīrzā now entered Teheran without the slightest opposition,
and his uncle the _Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān_, “in the greatest despondency,”
placed the crown on his head and handed him the state jewels. Muḥammad
Shāh (no longer Mīrzā) then proceeded to despatch the _Z̤ill^u
’s-Sult̤ān_ and most of his uncles and brothers to the dreaded
fortress of Ardabīl.
Shayk͟h ʿAlī Mīrzā, _Shayk͟h^u ’l-Mulūk_, “though he had none of the
requisites of sovereignty except a band of music,” was another prince
that made an even more feeble bid for the throne. He was then Governor
of Tūy Sarkān. Royal governors, in Persia, have bands that play in
the evening; but a morning band is a prerogative of the Shāh. Shayk͟h
ʿAlī Mīrzā ordered his band to play in the morning as well as in the
evening, and thought that by so doing he had become Shāh. However, on
receiving the unexpected news that Muḥammad Shāh was in Teheran, he
tendered his submission, and was soon packed off to join the “caravan”
at Ardabīl.
Ḥaydar Qulī Mīrzā, _Ṣāḥib Ik͟htiyār_, another royal prince, also
made a burlesque attempt to obtain sovereignty. His own adherents
split into two parties, quarrelled amongst themselves, and then at a
moment’s notice turned him out of the city of which he was Governor.
On his way to Isfahan he fell off his horse, and was carried into that
city in a prostrate condition. Once or twice, after this, he flits
across the page of history as a fugitive from the wrath of Muḥammad
Shāh.
It must not be supposed that all this time the _Farmān-Farmā_, the
father of our author and the eldest living son of the late Fatḥ ʿAlī
Shāh, was idle. He seems to have been popular in Fārs, for Shīrāz was
kind enough to offer him the crown of Persia. He induced his brother
the _Shujāʿ^u ’s-Salt̤anah_, the Governor of Kirmān, to have coins
struck in his name there, and also the _K͟hut̤bah_ read in his name
at the Friday prayers. He further sat on a throne in Shīrāz. A few
days later, news of the arrival of Muḥammad Shāh in Teheran and of the
abdication of the _Z̤ill^u ’s-Sult̤ān_, reached him. The _Shujāʿ^u
’s-Salt̤anah_, who had arrived at Shīrāz from Kirmān, was then placed
in command of an army, and under him were two of the _Farmān-Farmā’s_
sons, Najaf Qulī Mīrzā in command of the Cavalry, and Riẓā Qulī Mīrzā
in command of the Infantry. The destination of the army appears to
have been Isfahan, the inhabitants of which, it was hoped, would
declare for the _Farmān-Farmā_. The season was winter. The second
march was commenced in a storm of snow and rain. The plains became a
lake: the hill passes were blocked by snow: men and horses died: guns
sank in the mud: property was lost. Rations, too, ran short, and
the country had lately been visited by locusts. Even proper guides
were wanting. But worst of all, one march from Isfahan, Mr. Lynch
was discovered blocking the way. In the night, three of Mr. Lynch’s
artillerymen “deserted” to the Shīrāz camp, and tampered with its
artillery. In the skirmish next morning, all the artillery horses of
the Shīrāz camp went bodily over to Mr. Lynch. The remainder of the
Shīrāz army scattered and disappeared, got entangled in the mountains,
and retraced its steps to find Mr. Lynch with some artillery blocking
one path, and a Mr. “Shir”—apparently another Englishman—blocking
another.
The Shīrāz Commander-in-Chief, with his two nephews, and presumably a
remnant of the army, eventually slunk back into Shīrāz, in a miserable
plight from hunger and exhaustion. A grand Council was then held, and
everybody talked, and the _Farmān-Farmā_ listened to all in turn. One
thing seems quite certain, no one _did_ anything. Strange rumours now
began to reach Shīrāz of weird Turkish troops that spoke no Persian,
and were commanded by an ubiquitous Englishman. The merchants,
panic-stricken, fled with their property. The city people revolted,
and seized some towers; while the troops, of course, deserted to the
other side. A faithful eunuch then informed the _Farmān-Farmā_ that he
had met some of the city people on their way to seize the gates, and
that a plan had been concocted for capturing the _Farmān-Farmā_ with
all his relations, adding that the delay of _one minute_ meant the
loss of everything. Still the _Farmān-Farmā_ shilly-shallied: still he
maintained his attitude of keeping “one foot in the stirrup and one
on the ground,” giving ear, first to the advice of his son to flee,
and then to the advice of his brother the _Shujāʿ^u ’s-Salt̤anah_
to stay. The result was, that the two elder princes were taken. The
_Farmān-Farmā_ was deported to Teheran, where he was honourably
treated but speedily died. The _Shujāʿ^u ’s-Salt̤anah_ was carried to
Teheran, deprived of his sight _en route_, and then sent to enliven
the family party at Ardabīl. The princes, Najaf Qulī Mīrzā, Riẓā Qulī
Mīrzā, Taymūr Mīrzā the author of this Bāz-Nāma, with Nawāb Ḥājiya
the mother of Najaf Qulī Mīrzā, and three more princes, brothers or
half-brothers, narrowly effected their escape, and a month later
reached Bag͟hdād in safety.
At that time relations between the English and Persian Courts were
extremely friendly. The eldest prince, Riẓā Qulī Mīrzā, with his
brothers Najaf Qulī Mīrzā, and Taymūr Mīrzā our author, started for
England to obtain the mediation of William IV., reaching London
_viâ_ Damascus and Beyrout in the summer of 1836. Their journey from
Damascus to Beyrout was as feckless and mismanaged as their expedition
to Isfahan.
For four months the princes were a popular feature of London Society,
and during that time succeeded in losing their hearts several
times. Then, as they had obtained the object of their journey, Lord
Palmerston having arranged matters to their satisfaction, they
returned to Bag͟hdād and exile.
Najaf Qulī Mīrzā wrote an account in Persian of the events that
occurred on the death of their grandfather Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh, and of
their own adventures in consequence, and he also kept a diary of their
tour to England and back.
_Asʿad Yaʿqūb K͟hayyāt̤_,[2] a Syrian Christian who had accompanied
the princes to Europe as Dragoman, secured this MS. in Bag͟hdād; but
on his journey back to Syria he was held up by Bedouins and deprived
of that portion of the MS. that treated of the actual flight of the
princes from Shīrāz and of the arrest of their father—the illiterate
Arabs mistaking these pages for the Holy Qurʾān. The remainder of the
journal was translated by him into English, and under the title of a
“Journal of a Residence in England and of a Journey from and to Syria,
of their Royal Highnesses Reeza Koolee Meerza, Najaf Koolee Meerza,
and Taymoor Meerza of Persia,” was printed in London for private
circulation only. The present tragi-comic page of Persian history has
been compiled, partly from this narrative, and partly from Persian
sources.
Some twenty-eight years after the bid for sovereignty, and fourteen
years after the death of their cousin Muḥammad Shāh, the two princes
Riẓā Qulī Mīrzā and Taymūr Mīrzā started from Bag͟hdād to revisit
their native land. Who knows what secret hopes they cherished, what
dreams they dreamt of royal favour? In a few pathetic words, our
author, in his Preface, informs us that, at the second stage of their
journey, the truth of the sacred text, ‘And ye know not in what land
death shall overtake you,’ was forcibly revealed to him: his brother
suddenly sickened and died.
Taymūr Mīrzā was well received by Nāṣir^u ’d-Dīn Shāh, whose constant
companion he became in all sporting expeditions. He died in A.H. 1291
(A.D. 1874); I am told, in Teheran.
In Persia, and round Bag͟hdād, Taymūr Mīrzā’s name is still a
household word. “Ah,” exclaim the Persians when hawking is mentioned,
“if Taymūr Mīrzā were only here.”
His treatise on Falconry, of which the present book is a translation,
was composed in A.H. 1285 (A.D. 1868) and was originally lithographed
in Teheran. A second, and perhaps a third, edition was lithographed in
Bombay, a few pages on pigeons and game-fowl, apparently written in
India, being added as an Appendix.
The present translation has been made from a copy of the original
Teheran edition to which marginal notes have been added by a former
owner. For the versification I am indebted to the assistance of
poetical friends.
D. C. P.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Mīrzā_ after (not before) a name signifies Prince.
[2] In his translation of the Journal he transliterates his name
Asaad Y. Kayat. _K͟hayyāt̤_ is a common family name amongst Syrian
Christians.
[Illustration: II
FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE TEHERAN LITHOGRAPHED EDITION]
THE
“BĀZ-NĀMA-YI NĀṢIRĪ”
A TREATISE ON FALCONRY DEDICATED TO NĀṢIR^U ’D-DĪN SHĀH OF PERSIA
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MERCIFUL, THE COMPASSIONATE
Let us embroider this Treatise on Falconry with the design of the
Praise of the All-Sufficient; and let us exalt our Pen by a votive
offering of praise to the Great Fashioner, in the path of whose
worship the wings of those falcon-like Pure Spirits of the Saints
are spread wide open,[3] like as the portals of His Mercy are opened
wide in the faces of those that truly love Him. Let us also praise
the matchless beauty and grandeur and perfection of that high-soaring
Bird,[4] the robe of whose being God adorned with this sacred verse:
“And was at the distance of two bow-strings, or even less.”[5]
We further extol the Family, the _Humā_[6] of whose noble spirit soars
aloft on the pinions of sure belief and true knowledge, winging its
way to the eyrie of union with the Eternal Phœnix:—
Falcons thrice four and twain,[7] that on the wing
Of Unity soar ever hovering
Round Caucasus (within whose rocky caves
Dwells the _Sīmurg͟h_); while ever on their graves
The clouds of God’s Grace every moment pour
Unnumbered blessings from His bounteous store.
Thus says this writer, His Royal Highness Prince _Taymūr Mīrzā_,[8]
son of the Blessed[9] _Ḥusayn ʿAlī Mīrzā, Farmān-Farmā_,[10] and
grandson of the Blessed[9] King _Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh, Qājār_ (whom Allah
has clothed in the Robes of Light):—At the beginning of the reign of
King _Muḥammad Shāh_ (the Receiver of God’s Pardon[11] and a Dweller
in Paradise), in the year of the Flight 1250 (a thousand blessings and
praises on Him that performed it[12]) I with my brothers _Riẓā Qulī
Mīrzā_[8], _Nāqib^u ’l-Iyāla_, and _Najaf Qulī Mīrzā, Wālī_, both my
elders, and _Shāh-ruk͟h Mīrzā_, and _Iskandar Mīrzā_, younger than
the writer, departed from the Province of _Fārs_ on a pilgrimage to
the Sacred _Karbalā_[13]—best of blessings and perfect benedictions
on its silent[14] inmates! After a residence of some months in that
Celestial City, I, as God and Fate decreed, with my brother _Riẓā Qulī
Mīrzā_ and _Najaf Qulī Mīrzā_ took a journey to Europe, returning to
the Holy Places[15] after the space of a year and a half. By the grace
of God we spent the long space of thirty years, in peace and freedom,
in those Abodes of Peace, visiting the Holy Shrines and hawking and
hunting in their environs.
When the throne of the Kingdom of _Īrān_—which God protect from the
changes and vicissitudes of Time—was adorned and illuminated by the
splendour of the auspicious accession of His Majesty _Shāh Nāṣir^u
’d-Dīn_, a _Jamshīd_ in rank, the shade of God’s Grace and His
Blessing to men, the Divinely-aided, a King and the son of Kings;
and when the fame of the Justice and the echo of the Clemency of
this peerless Monarch spread and resounded throughout the world, nay
reached even to the high oratories of Heaven’s Dome, I, your humble
slave, with _Riẓā Qulī Mīrzā_, left Bag͟hdād, the Abode of Peace,[16]
in the year of the Flight 1279, on a pilgrimage to Holy Meshed, in
order to kiss the sacred shrine of the Eighth Imām,—the blessings of
God Almighty on him, his honoured forefathers, and his descendants the
Leaders of men!
In _Kirmānshāh_ his pre-destined death overtook _Riẓā Qulī Mīrzā_,
in the Fort known as _Ḥājī Karīm_, one of the stages on our journey;
and in accordance with the passage, “All that breathes shall taste of
death,” he passed away, and the hidden mystery of, “No living thing
knoweth in what land it shall die” was manifested to us.
When the bird of his spirit spread its wings and soared to the eyrie
of Rest we despatched his bier to the Holy City of _Najaf_[17]
(thousands of blessings on him that has sanctified it) where was his
dwelling-place and ancestral home, so that he might there be buried
with his fathers, while I, alone, with my burden of grief continued on
my way to the most Sacred City.[18]
When I was blessed by the pilgrimage to _Haẓrat-i ʿAbd^u
’l-ʿAz̤īm_[19]—Peace and Honour be to him—the intense heat had already
set in, and His Majesty and his Court were moving to the summer
residence at _Shimrānāt_. Certain well-wishers of His Majesty and
of the State informed him of my circumstances. Since the Creator of
Existence, He who has made the heights and the depths, has decreed
for every low estate a high estate, and for every grief a joy, and
for every disgrace an honour, and for every pain a cure, the Royal
mind was inspired to appoint _Dūst ʿAlī K͟hān_, the Minister of Public
Works, to summon this attached slave to the Presence. So, according
to Royal Mandate, I drove with the Minister in his carriage to
_Nayāvarān_,[20] where the Royal Camp then was. After a short wait in
the shade of the tent we were honoured by admittance to the sun-like
Presence of the King—May our souls be his sacrifice! Such kindness
he showed and so wide did he open the doors of his favour and kingly
condescension, that what I had heard was but a thousandth part of
the reality—as it were but a handful as a sample of an ass-load. I
exclaimed:—
When the poor traveller’s glance on thee alight,
Thy beauty charms his vision with its sight.
No longer wishful through the world to roam,
His heart but seeks to find with thee a home.
He spoke on various topics and strung the pearls of kingly words—and
kings’ words are the kings of words—on the string of discourse. I
too, his slave, according to my mean ability, presented my poor
contribution to the conversation, which at last turned on sport.
The Shadow of God (may our souls be his sacrifice) is an expert of
experts in all sports, but especially in shooting. I have never seen
or heard of his equal in shooting, either on foot, or off a galloping
horse. For example, one day in the _Kūh-i Shahristānak_, I and _Mahdī
Qulī K͟hān_ the _G͟hulām bachcha-bāshī_, and _Āqā Kushī K͟hān_ the
gun-keeper, were sitting with him behind a stone—_Muṣt̤afā Qulī K͟hān_
the _Mīrshikār_[21] with several other rifles having made a circuit
to drive the herd of wild sheep within range of the king’s rifle—when
the herd suddenly turned aside and made off. Five three-year old
rams that had not scented the danger came fearlessly on towards the
stone behind which His Majesty and the rest of us were crouching.
His Majesty had with him a double-barrelled gun for slugs, and three
rifles. When the rams arrived within forty paces, His Majesty fired
the gun and brought down one with one barrel, and a second with the
second barrel. The three remaining rushed down the hill. His Majesty
seized the rifles with his auspicious hand, and by the will of the One
God brought down all three head one after the other:—
The Heavens exclaimed “Bravo!”
The Angels cried “Well-done!”[22]
Now only an expert shot knows at what ranges to fire five successive
and successful shots at a fleeing herd.
No sport is this but miracle and wonder!
True it is that kings are the shadow of God and able to accomplish all
by the help of their Master.
As long as in the heavens the Lord shall reign,
May our King’s rule upon the earth remain;
For surely so long will a shadow last
As He by whom the shadow’s self is cast.[23]
Many other feats, too, like this I’ve seen, up till now, the year
1285[24] (of the Flight).
Sixty-four years of my life have now passed, all spent in hunting and
shooting. I have had no hobby but sport, no recreation but it.
This slave of the King’s Court, _Taymūr_, desired that like the ant
he should present his offering to the Court of the Solomon of the
Age,[25] that is, compose a treatise on Falconry and its branches,
and on the various species of hawks and their treatment in health and
disease.
Although the old Falconers have written treatises on this subject,
still in my humble opinion those old writers were by no means experts
in their science and should not be classed as masters in their art.
I, therefore, thought of myself writing on the subject and leaving a
memento for all lovers of the sport, whether tyros or experts. When
these are seated by a stream, refreshed and rested after the morning’s
sport, I hope they will recall the writer in their prayers and pass
over the shortcomings of his work.
I have honoured my book with the auspicious name of His Majesty the
King, and have named it the _Bāz-Nāma-yi Nāṣirī_ and have divided it
into several _bābs_.[26]
FOOTNOTES:
[3] _Tajnīs_: a play upon the words _bāz_, “a goshawk,” and _bāz_,
“open.”
[4] _i.e._, _Muḥammad_.
[5] Qurān, liii, 9.
[6] _Humā_, the Lammergeyer; _vide_ Journal and Proceedings Asiatic
Society of Bengal, Vol. II, No. 10, 1906.
[7] _i.e._, the 14 _Maʿṣūms_, which are _Muḥammad_, _Fāt̤imah_, and
his descendants the 12 Imāms.
[8] _Mīrzā_ after a name signifies Prince: Mīrzā before a name
signifies one whose mother is a Sayyida. But _Mĭrzā_ (with short i)
before a name signifies a “clerk, writer, etc.”
[9] _Marḥūm_, “blessed” (usually only of Muslims by Muslims),
signifies “dead and pardoned by God,” _i.e._, “late.”
[10] _Farmān-Farmā_—a title, and also a Governor or Viceroy. Ḥusayn
ʿAlī Mīrzā, much lauded by the Poet Qā,ānī, was Governor of Fārs.
[11] _i.e._, “deceased;” _vide_ note 9.
[12] _i.e._, on the Prophet.
[13] _ʿAtabāt-i ʿAlīyāt_, the “Exalted Thresholds,” is a Shīʿah term
for the city of Kerbalā, the burial place of the martyrs Imām Ḥusayn,
his family and his followers; sometimes Najaf and Kāz̤imayn are
included.
[14] _i.e._, those buried in those sacred spots.
[15] _Amākin-i Musharrafa._
[16] _Dār^u ’s-Salām_ is an epithet or a name of Baghdad.
[17] _Najaf-i Ashraf_; near Kerbalā and the burial place of _ʿAlī_.
[18] _Arẓ-i Aqdas_ is _Mash,had-i Muqaddas_.
[19] Probably the place of this name near Teheran, the burial place of
the saint from which the place takes its name.
[20] Near _Shimrānāt_.
[21] _Mīr-shikār_; in Persia a head game-keeper, but in India a title
of any bird-catcher, assistant falconer, etc.
[22] From the _Shāh-Nāma_.
[23] The Shāh, and in fact all kings, are styled “The Shadow of God.”
[24] A.D. 1868.
[25] The allusion is to some story of the ant presenting Solomon with
the leg of a locust.
[26] The book, however, contains only two numbered _bābs_; the first,
pages 1 to 26 (1st Edition) on “The species of Hunting-birds;” and the
second, the remaining 157 pages of the book on other subjects. The 2nd
_bāb_, however, commences with: “On the black-eyed birds of prey that
have at various times of my life come into my possession and which....”
CONTENTS
PAGE
TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION xi
PERSIAN AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION xvii
PART I
_THE YELLOW-EYED BIRDS OF PREY_
CHAP.
I. ON THE SHORT-WINGED HAWKS USED IN FALCONRY 1
II. THE GOSHAWKS 3
III. THE SPARROW-HAWK 11
IV. THE _PĪQŪ_ SPARROW-HAWK 15
V. THE _SHIKRA_ 17
VI. THE SERPENT EAGLE 17
VII. THE EAGLE OWL 18
VIII. OTHER SPECIES OF OWLS 22
IX. THE HARRIERS 25
X. THE LAMMERGEYER OR BEARDED VULTURE 27
XI. THE OSPREY 29
PART II
_THE DARK-EYED BIRDS OF PREY_
XII. THE EAGLES AND BUZZARDS 30
XIII. KITES AND HARRIERS 33
XIV. THE VULTURES 34
XV. THE RAVEN 35
XVI. THE _SHUNQĀR_ OR JERFALCON 36
XVII. THE _SHĀHĪN_ 42
XVIII. THE PEREGRINE (_BAḤRĪ_) 47
XIX. THE SAKER FALCON (_F. Cherrug_) 49
XX. THE EYESS SAKER FALCON 55
XXI. STRANGE ARAB DEVICES FOR CATCHING THE PASSAGE SAKER 57
XXII. THE MERLIN 61
XXIII. THE HOBBY 65
XXIV. THE _SANGAK_ 68
XXV. THE KESTRIL 68
XXVI. THE SHRIKE 72
XXVII. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 73
XXVIII. METHOD OF SNARING A WILD GOSHAWK WITH THE AID OF A LAMP 75
XXIX. TRAINING THE _T̤ARLĀN_ OR PASSAGE GOSHAWK 78
XXX. “RECLAIMING” THE PASSAGE SAKER 94
XXXI. ANECDOTES OF A BAGHDAD FALCONER 98
XXXII. TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO GAZELLE 99
XXXIII. TRAINING THE EYESS SAKER TO EAGLES 110
XXXIV. EYESS SAKER AND GAZELLE 115
XXXV. ANOTHER METHOD OF TRAINING THE EYESS AND PASSAGE SAKERS TO
GAZELLE 124
XXXVI. TRAINING THE “SHĀHĪN” 125
XXXVII. TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO COMMON HERON 136
XXXVIII. TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO COMMON CRANE 140
XXXIX. ON MANAGEMENT DURING THE MOULT 148
XL. REMEDIES FOR SLOW MOULTING 151
XLI. ON FEEDING ON JERBOAS DURING THE MOULT 152
XLII. ON FEELING THE PULSE, AND ON THE SIGNS OF HEALTH 153
XLIII. ON DISEASES OF THE HEAD AND EYES 154
XLIV. ON DISEASES OF THE MOUTH 155
XLV. DISEASES OF THE NOSE 157
XLVI. ON DISEASES OF THE EAR 157
XLVII. ON EPILEPSY 158
XLVIII. ON PALPITATION 160
XLIX. THE SICKNESS CALLED _KARAJ_, WHICH IS COSTIVENESS 162
L. HECTIC FEVER OR PHTHISIS 163
LI. ON CANKER OF THE FEATHERS 166
LII. LICE 168
LIII. WORMS 169
LIV. HEAT STROKE 170
LV. PALSY, ETC. 170
LVI. DISEASES OF THE FEET: THE “PINNE” IN THE FEET 172
LVII. ON PARALYSIS OF A TOE 176
LVIII. FEATHERS PLUCKED OUT BY THE ROOT 176
LIX. OPERATION OF OPENING THE STOMACH 179
LX. ON THE NUMBER OF FEATHERS IN THE WING AND TAIL 181
LXI. COUNSELS AND ADMONITIONS 182
LXII. ACCIDENTAL IMMERSION DURING WINTER 183
LXIII. EXPEDIENT IF MEAT FAIL 184
LXIV. RESTORATION AFTER DROWNING 184
LXV. SAGE ADVICE 185
LXVI. CURE FOR THE VICE OF “SOARING” 186
LXVII. ON BRANDING THE NOSTRILS BEFORE SETTING DOWN TO MOULT 189
LXVIII. A HAWK NOT TO BE FED WHEN “BLOWN” 190
LXIX. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 192
ILLUSTRATIONS
I. Hunting and Hawking Scene (from a painting in an ancient
Persian MS.) _Frontispiece_
II. Facsimile of a page of the Teheran Lithographed Edition xvi
III. Persian Carpet depicting Hawking Scene 2
IV. From an old Persian painting, Indian, probably of the Mug͟hal
Period 5
V. From a painting in an ancient Persian MS. written in India 7
VI. Persian Carpet depicting the Court of a Sikh Mahārājā 9
VII. Intermewed Peregrine 43
VIII. Young Peregrine (Indian Hood) 45
IX. Young Passage Saker (dark variety) 51
X. Young Passage Saker (dark variety) 53
XI. Hobby with Seeled Eyes 64
XII. Hobby with Seeled Eyes 66
XIII. Hobby with Seeled Eyes 67
XIV. Persian Falconer with Intermewed Goshawk (from a photograph
by a Persian) 77
XV. Intermewed Goshawk on Eastern Padded Perch (from a Persian
painting) 79
XVI. Arab Falconer with Young Saker on Padded and Spiked Perch 95
XVII. Young Gazelle 101
XVIII. Young Passage Saker (light variety) on Hubara 117
XIX. Young Passage Saker (dark variety) on Hubara 119
XX. Hubara sunning itself 121
XXI. Stone-Plover 127
XXII. Heron Struck Down by Peregrine (photo taken just before
the Heron touched the ground) 129
XXIII. Young Peregrine (English Block and Indian Hood) 131
XXIV. Intermewed Peregrines (from a photograph by Lieut.-Col. S.
Biddulph) 133
XXV. Hunting and Hawking Scene 195
Part I
_THE YELLOW-EYED BIRDS OF PREY_
CHAPTER I
ON THE SHORT-WINGED HAWKS USED IN FALCONRY
The Birds of Prey are divided into two great divisions, the
“Yellow-eyed” and the “Black-eyed,” these being again sub-divided into
numerous species.
We will first treat of the Yellow-eyed Division.
[Illustration: III
PERSIAN CARPET DEPICTING HAWKING SCENE]
_T̤ug͟hral_ [CRESTED GOSHAWK?]—The first species worthy of note
is the _T̤ug͟hral_.[27] During my many wanderings I have searched
diligently for this species, but in vain, and am, therefore, unable
to describe it from personal knowledge. There is a current tradition,
that a single specimen was once brought to Persia from China,[28] and
presented as a curiosity to King _Bahrām-i Gūr_,[29] who treasured it
greatly and guarded it jealously. One sad day, when the king was out
hawking, the _t̤ug͟hral_ suddenly took to “soaring” and was quickly
lost to the sight of the disconsolate monarch. His retinue were
soon scattered in every direction in search of the missing hawk,
and the king was left almost alone, being attended by a few only of
the royal favourites. _Bahrām-i Gūr_ and his party also took up the
search; and wandering far and wide, at length happened on a large and
shady garden, where they alighted. The bewildered owner of the garden
advanced exclaiming:—
“The simple peasant on whose ‘_kulāhed_’[30] head
The Sultan, Phoebus-like, his grandeur shed,
Trembles within his soul and well nigh dies,
That on him shines the Sultan’s kindly eyes.”
On being questioned about the lost hawk he replied, “What a
_T̤ug͟hral_ may be, I know not, but not two hours since a hawk with
bells and a jewelled ‘halsband,’[31] took stand in a tree of this very
garden; but taking fright at my attempt to secure it, it flew off and
settled in that grove yonder.” Bahrām was overjoyed at this clue,
which enabled him to recover his lost favourite.[32]
From this reference to a “halsband” and bells, and to the
_t̤ug͟hral_’s habit of sitting on trees, the author concludes that
this unknown species belongs to the yellow-eyed division of the birds
of prey.
FOOTNOTES:
[27] _T̤ug͟hral_; a species frequently mentioned in old Persian
MSS. on falconry. It is probably the “Crested Goshawk” (_Astur
trivirgatus_) which is said to have been formerly trained in India.
Jerdon, quoting Layard, says it is trained in Ceylon. The _T̤ug͟hral_
is confused by Indian falconers with the _Shāh-bāz_, or “Royal
Goshawk” which, according to Jerdon, is the name given by native
falconers of Southern India to the Crested Hawk-Eagle (_Limnætus
cristatellus_). The same author also quotes Major Pearse as his
informant that the Rufous-bellied Hawk-Eagle (_L. kienierii_) is,
“Very rarely procured from the N.W. Himalayas and trained for hunting
and is known as the _Shāh-bāz_.”
[28] _Chīn_; under this name are included Yarkand, Khutan, Mongolia,
Manchuria, etc.
[29] _Bahrām_ was surnamed _Gūr_, from his passion for hunting the
_gūr_ or wild ass. He belonged to the Sassanian dynasty of Persian
kings and his name frequently occurs in Persian poetry. The Greek
Varanes is said to be a corruption of _Bahrām_.
CHAPTER II
THE GOSHAWKS
THREE SPECIES.—[The author now describes three races of goshawk,
which he distinguishes by the names of _Tīqūn_; _T̤arlān_; and
_Qizil_:[33] each of these three he sub-divides into varieties, only
distinguishable from each other by slight differences in colouring, in
marking, or in size. The first-named species is the white goshawk;
the second is that variety or race of the common goshawk that is
caught after migration into Persia; while the third is the local race
that breeds in the country.
After hazarding a conjecture that the white goshawks[34] are not a
true species like the _T̤arlān_ and _Qizil_, but are either albinos,
or else accidental varieties produced by the pairing, for one or
more generations, of two exceptionally light specimens of the common
goshawk, the author proceeds to describe a pure white variety of the
_Tīqūn_, which, he says, is known to the people of Turkistan by the
name of _Kāfūrī_.[35] He remarks that he has caught albino specimens
of the Saker Falcon, and has further observed albinos of the _Shāhīn_,
“piebald crow,”[36] peacock, sparrow, sparrow-hawk, pin-tailed
sand-grouse, chukor, hoopoe, English merlin, _kākulī_ lark, and common
crane. As regards the _Kāfūrī_, he states his opinion that it is the
offspring of albino _T̤arlāns_ that happen to have paired for two
generations. He continues:—]
WHITE GOSHAWK OR _Tīqūn-i kāfūrī_.—The female of this variety of
_Tīqūn_ is noted for its large size, the male on the contrary for
being extremely small. The head, neck, back, and breast are totally
devoid of markings, the plumage being white as driven snow.[37] In
the immature bird the eyes have only a slightly reddish tinge, but
after the first moult their hue generally deepens and turns to a
ruby-red.[38] The claws and beak, though frequently white, are more
often a light grey, while the cere is greenish.
E’en such the noble thorough-bred _Tīqūn_;
May God in mercy grant us such a boon!
[Illustration: IV
FROM AN OLD PERSIAN PAINTING, INDIAN, PROBABLY OF THE MUG͟HAL PERIOD]
I remember having once seen a “cast”[39] of this variety—male and
female—in the possession of _Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh_[40] (now a resident of
Paradise), both of which were exceptionally fine performers in the
field.
The people of Turkistan, who are highly skilled in the art of training
goshawks, call this variety _lāziqī_.[41]
It is commonly believed by falconers and bird-catchers, that in the
early spring, when the female goshawk is desirous of the attentions of
a male, she utters loud and plaintive cries, which attract to her many
species of birds. From these she selects a male of a species different
from herself,[42] and the result of this union is a diversiform
progeny. However, the _kāfūrī_ or _lāziqī_ variety is the offspring of
two white parents.
The following circumstance lends some colouring of truth to this
quaint belief:—
Some years ago a hawk of this species was brought from Russia and
presented as a curiosity to the late Shāh, who, in turn, bestowed it
on _Ḥusayn ʿAlī Mīrzā_,[43] Governor of the Province of Fārs. The
Governor (now in the abode of the Blessed) forwarded it to me—the
contemptible. It must have been a bird of four or five moults, when
it came into the possession of this slave. After infinite pains I
succeeded in taking with it one solitary _chukor_,[44] and that, too,
a bird harried and worn out by another hawk. It had a very villainous
and scurvy disposition. The plumage of this hawk, an unusually
large female, was peculiar, in that its feathers were alternately
snow-white and raven-black; the claws and beak were of the colour of
mother-of-pearl, and the eyes were a reddish yellow. I feel confident
her albino mother had mated with a raven, and that this spurious
half-caste was the result of the union. There _is_ some truth in the
statements of the bird-catchers.
The above description is given, as it seems in some measure to support
the stories of the bird-catchers. Sure and certain knowledge, however,
rests with God.
[Illustration: V
FROM A PAINTING IN AN ANCIENT PERSIAN MS. WRITTEN IN INDIA]
GOSHAWK (_T̤arlān_).—There are three varieties of _T̤arlān_, the
dark, the light, and the tawny. The last two are common, but though
tractable and easily reclaimed,[45] they are not good at large quarry.
The dark variety that has a reddish tinge, is universally acknowledged
to be the best, and I have myself taken with it common crane and
great bustard.[46] The colouring should be very dark, with a tinge of
red in it; though this variety may be sullen and self-willed, it is
also hardy and keen, and, once thoroughly reclaimed, will be as docile
and obedient as any falconer could desire.
LOCAL RACE OF GOSHAWK (_Qizil_).—The third species, the _Qizil_,[47]
breeds in Māzenderān,[48] and in many other parts of Persia, and a
fair number are captured in nets, each Autumn, together with the
_T̤arlāns_. Like the last-described species, this also contains three
varieties, the dark, the light, and the tawny. The dark variety with
the cheek-stripe[49] is the best, and the darker this marking—with a
tinge of red in it—the better the bird. With a “passage-bird”[50] of
this last variety, the author has himself taken common cranes, great
bustards, and “ravine-deer”[51] fawns. The difference between the
wild caught _Qizil_ and the _T̤arlān_ is in reality very small. The
latter has a somewhat finer presence, a more noble disposition, and
is rather faster in flight; also from its habit of mounting higher
and thus commanding a more extensive view, it is better able to mark
down or “put in”[52] its quarry. It is for these reasons only that the
_T̤arlān_ has a higher value than the _Qizil_.[53]
[Illustration: VI
PERSIAN CARPET DEPICTING THE COURT OF A SIKH MAHĀRĀJĀ]
EYESS OF _Qizil_.—The eyess[54] of the _Qizil_ is more courageous
than the “passage hawk,”[55] for it has the courage of inexperience.
Reared with fostering care from its nestling days, what recks it of
the frowns of Fortune? Untaught by Time, what knows it of the spoiling
Eagle’s might? Though the eyess may at first excel the passage-hawk
in courage, it is inferior to it in powers of flight. With increased
knowledge, comes decreased courage. In a word, the nestling bears the
same relation to the passage-hawk that the town-bred man does to the
desert tentman.
PASSAGE AND EYESS _Qizil_ COMPARED WITH _T̤arlān_.—Compared with the
eyess, the passage _Qizil_ is the better, especially that variety
which has the reddish-black cheek-stripe.[56] Although inferior in
powers of flight to the _T̤arlān_, it is better at taking large
quarry, and in this quality, as well as in affection for its master,
it improves moult by moult. The _T̤arlān_, on the contrary, with
increasing age becomes a regular old soldier: it wastes the day
excusing itself and shirking its duty and saying: “Oh! an eagle put me
off that time;” or “Why! I didn’t see the partridge;” or else, “How
clumsily you cast me! You hurt my back.” When the sun is near sinking,
the cunning truant will suddenly rouse itself, and by a grand effort
kill in the finest style. Well it knows that at that late hour, a full
crop and no more work must needs be the reward of its single exertion.
With hopes excited, its gulled master will rise early next day, and
start off to make a big bag. Alas for the fair promise of last night!
Like yestere’en, to-day she fails to kill,
The truant bird, blaming her master’s skill.
The _T̤arlān_, however, brings luck to its owner. Besides it has a
nature sweet, and docile, and loyal, and true. Hence of the _T̤arlān_
it has been said:—
One day a Knight in splendour bright
His Hawk at quarry flew.
The Royal Bird, soon lost to sight,
Soared high into the blue,
When lo! mid-air she meets a mate,
Who says in tones imploring,
“Return no more to leash or cage
But stay in freedom soaring.”
The Hawk replied:—“True friends are rare;
I cannot break my oath;
To stop with thee I do not dare;
To lose man’s love, I’m loth.”
FOOTNOTES:
[30] _Kulāh_ is the felt hat worn by Muslims.
[31] _Jalqū_; “Halsband, _lit._ neck-band; a contrivance of soft
twisted silk, placed like a collar round the hawk’s neck and the end
held in the hand; ...”—_Harting._ The object of the halsband is to
steady the hawk and enable it to start collectedly when the falconer
casts it at the quarry. In the East it is considered an indispensable
portion of the equipment of every Sparrow-Hawk. It is also very
frequently attached to the Goshawk, but is not, however, used with the
_Shikra_. _Zang_ “bell.”
[32] This anecdote is from the _Shāh-Nāma_.
[33] The _T̤arlān_ and the _Qizil_ are the same species; the latter is
the local race that breeds in Persia.
[34] In Blandford’s _Zoology of Eastern Persia_ the author states
his opinion that the white goshawk is merely a variety of the common
goshawk.
[35] _Kāfūrī_; adj. from _kāfūr_, “camphor,” an emblem of whiteness.
[36] _Kulāg͟h-i pīsa_ “the pied crow”; _qil-i quiruq_ T. “the
pin-tailed sand-grouse”; _hudhud_ “hoopoe”; _kākulī_, _vide_ page 24,
note 104, “a species of crested lark”; _durnā_ “common crane.”
[37] Jerdon mentions a pure white goshawk as being found in New
Holland, and states that Pallas notices a white goshawk from the
extreme north-east part of Asia. Some Afghan falconers call albinos of
any species _taig͟hūn_ (_tīqūn_).
[38] In the adult _shikra_ (wild caught), the iris is sometimes a
deep red and sometimes a bright yellow. In “eyess” _shikras_, even
after the moult, the iris is frequently almost colourless, the result
perhaps of confinement in dark native houses.
[39] “Cast of hawks, _i.e._, two; not necessarily a pair.”—_Harting._
[40] A contemporary of Napoleon.
[41] _Lāziqī_ T., is said to be the name of a white flower: this is
said to be the same as the _gul-i rāziqī_ P., a kind of jasmine (the
_bel phul_ of the Hindus).
[42] A similar belief is current in parts of England with regard to
the cuckoo, which, by some country people, is supposed to mate with
the wryneck or “cuckoo’s mate.”
[43] This _Ḥusayn ʿAlī Mīrzā_ was apparently the father of the author.
[44] The _chukor_ (Caccabis chukor) of India and _kabk_ of Persia,
with its “joyous laughter,” enters largely into Oriental fable. On
account of its cheery cry, it is a favourite cage-bird with both
Hindus and Muslims. The male is also trained to fight. It is not an
uncommon sight to see a man strolling along the road with a _chukor_,
or a grey partridge, trotting behind him like a little fox terrier.
[45] “‘Reclaim,’ _v._ Fr. _réclamer_, to make a hawk tame, gentle, and
familiar.”—_Harting._
[46] _Mīsh-murg͟h_, _lit._ “sheep-bird” (_Otis tarda_). In Albin’s
_Natural History of Birds_, it is stated that the goshawk used to be
flown at geese and cranes as well as at partridges and pheasants.
In Hume’s _Rough Notes_, there is an account by Mr. R. Thompson of
hawking with the goshawk in the forests of Gurhwal and the Terai, the
quarry killed being jungle fowl, _kālij_ pheasants, hares, peacocks,
ducks and teal. The peacock knows well how to use its formidable feet
and legs as weapons of defence, and is a more dangerous quarry than
even the common crane.
[47] _Qizil_ T., means “red.”
[48] Māzenderān, a hilly province on the south coast of the Caspian.
[49] _Madāmiʿ_ Pl. Ar. The author explains this to mean “having black
under the eyes and under the chin.” _Vide_ also note 200, page 50.
[50] “‘Passage-Hawk,’ a wild hawk caught upon the passage or
migration.”—_Harting._
[51] _Āhū_; the Persian gazelle (_Gazella subgutterosa_). Unlike
its congener, the Indian gazelle (the well-known _chikāra_ or
“ravine-deer” of the Panjab), the female of this species is hornless.
A full-grown Indian gazelle weighs about thirty-six pounds, and stands
a little over two feet high at the shoulder. “It [the goshawk] takes
not only partridges and pheasants but also greater fowls as geese and
cranes.”—Albin’s _Nat. Hist. of Birds_.
[52] “‘Put in,’ to drive the quarry into covert.”—_Harting._
[53] A Persian falconer informed me that the _Qizil_ is smaller,
slower, and inferior in courage to the other races, and that it can
readily be distinguished while in the immature plumage, but not after
the first moult. I was shown a moulted _qizil_ and a moulted _bāz_
side by side; except that the former was slightly smaller, there was
no outward difference between the two.
[54] “‘Eyess;’ a nestling or young hawk taken from the ‘eyrie’ or
nest; from the Fr. _Niais_....”—_Harting._
[55] _Vide_ page 8, note 50. Chapter V of Bert’s treatise is
headed: “_Of the_ Eyas _Hawke_, [Goshawk] _upon whom I can fasten
no affection, for the multitude of her follies and faults_.” The
following quaint derivation is from the _Boke of St. Albans_:—“An
hawke is called an Eyes of hir Eyghen, for an hauke that is broght
up under a Bussard or a Puttocke: as mony be: hath Wateri Eghen. For
Whan thay be disclosed and kepit in ferme tyll thay be full summyd. ye
shall knawe theym by theyr Wateri Eyghen. And also hir looke Will not
be so quycke as a Brawncheris is. and so be cause the best knawlege
is by the Eygh, they be calde Eyeses.” “Now to speke of hawkys. first
thay ben Egges. and afterwarde they bene disclosed hawkys....”
[56] _Siyāh-yashmāg͟hlī_ T.; _yashmāg͟hlī_ T., is a black handkerchief
worn by women round the head. Perhaps in the text it means
“black-headed.”
CHAPTER III
THE SPARROW-HAWK
Much that has been written of the _T̤arlān_ Goshawk is also applicable
to the Common Sparrow-hawk.[57] There are four varieties, the light,
the dark, the khaki, and the tawny. Of these four, the khaki has the
best heart. The eyes in this variety are small; and the smaller the
markings on the breast, the more the hawk will be esteemed, for the
more courageous it will prove: it is the opposite of the _Qizil_.
Into the azure vault of Heaven, my hawk I flew,
Whispering to it a prayer, “Oh Bird of Mine be true;
Come back to me!” But my foolish heart did not discern
That a hawk mid-air, well on the wing, could not return.
O Fate, whose face is veiled to me!
Return my hawk—propitious be!
With the Sparrow-hawk, I have myself taken teal, _chukor_,
stone-plover,[58] black-bellied sand-grouse[59] and short-eared
owl.[60] Considering its size, the Sparrow-hawk is the boldest as
well as the most powerful of all the short-winged hawks used in
falconry.[61] I have frequently seen sparrow-hawks (especially
eyesses) “bate”[62] at hares, but I could never muster up courage to
let one go, to see the result.
YOUNG PASSAGE SPARROW-HAWK.—Should a very good young sparrow-hawk be
brought to you about the time of year that the Sun first enters into
Virgo,[63] which is about the time the Sparrow-hawks first arrive in
the country, nurse her carefully, for she is well worth keeping. At
this time she will be a mere nestling, scarcely in fact more than
seven weeks old. Her bones will not be properly set and her whole
appearance will be spare and weakly. Now, don’t be in a hurry to fly
her, unless indeed you wish to spoil her. If you destine her for large
quarry, such as _chukor_, _seesee_,[64] black-bellied sand-grouse,
and the like, “man” her very carefully, and let her take no fright
at dogs or water, etc. Next train her to come to the lure, or fist.
When she will fly readily to the fist, kill a small chicken under her
daily,[65] and gorge her on it,—day by day increasing the size of the
chicken, till she will fly readily to it, and seize it in your hand,
the moment that you present it held firmly by both its legs. Proud of
the progress made by your pupil, you may feel inclined to release your
grasp of the chicken’s legs, in order to allow her to kill it unaided;
but on no account must this fatal inclination be yielded to.
Now, after the hawk has been called to, and gorged on, two or three
chickens given in the hand, she must be entered to two or three flying
pigeons; the pigeons, with shortened wings, being released before
her, in such a manner that she may take them. Each time she takes the
pigeon, kill it cautiously, and let her take her pleasure on it.
When she has taken a few pigeons in this manner, call her as before
to a live fowl held by the legs, but this time call her to it from
some distance. As soon as she comes and seizes it, which she ought to
without hesitation, kill it, and gorge her on it.
As soon as her training reaches this point, she should be confined
in a cupboard, some seven feet long by three and a half broad. The
cupboard, which should first be thoroughly swept and cleaned, must be
kept to such a pitch of darkness, that it will be impossible for its
occupant to distinguish the day from the night. If much more light be
admitted, the hawk, by bating against the door or wall, will probably
do herself some irremediable injury. She should be fed every evening,
three or four hours after dark, by the light of a lamp, being taken on
the fist for the purpose, and allowed to eat her fill. Her principal
food should be sparrows and young pigeons, but in any case she must
have constant change of diet. When so gorged that she can eat no
more, offer her water in a cup, flicking the water with the finger to
attract her attention to it. If she drink, so much the better, let her
drink her fill: but if she evince no inclination to drink, remove the
water and replace her in her prison. This treatment must be continued
for at least forty days.
After the expiration of forty days, reduce the quantity of her food
for four or five nights, and carry her by lamp light; in fact treat
her in every respect like a wild-caught hawk. Evening by evening,
the amount of carriage must be increased, until she is thoroughly
“manned,”[66] when she will be ready to obey her master’s every
behest.
The above method has certain special advantages. During the rest in
confinement, the hawk’s bones will become thoroughly hard and set;[67]
and from the high feeding during that forty days, she will attain
the growth and strength of a twelvemonth; and her toes will be long
and thick; and even large quarry, such as _chukor_, pigeons, and
black-bellied sand-grouse, will stand a poor chance of breaking away
from her clutches.
It is of course understood that, if destined for large quarry, she
must never have been flown at sparrows nor even given any small
bagged bird whole, from the day you first get her till the present.
She must be made to forget that there is such a thing as small quarry
in existence, or that any bird is fit for food except partridge, and
sand-grouse, or such large game.
EYESS SPARROW-HAWK.—I will now instruct you in another method of
training the Sparrow-hawk, by which, in the field, it will be no whit
inferior to the goshawks of most falconers. In the early Spring,
get some trusty fowler to mark down a tree, in which a pair of
Sparrow-hawks are “timbering.”[68] A strict watch must be kept on
the nest, and the first time the parent birds are observed carrying
food to their young, the tree must be scaled, and all the nestlings,
except the largest female, removed. The nest will contain from three
to five nestlings. The whole attention of the parent birds will now
be bestowed on the solitary occupant, which, by thriving apace, will
fully repay the care lavished on it. The nestling must be inspected by
the fowler almost daily, until the whole of the quill feathers of the
tail and wings are out.[69] Then four or five days before it is ready
to fly, he must “seel”[70] its eyes while it is still in the nest
and remove it, substituting for it, one of the nestlings originally
abducted. The nest will not then be forsaken: the parent birds will
rear the restored substitute, and will year after year build in the
same tree.
The nestling, its eyes “seeled,” must be conveyed carefully home,
and its education conducted in precisely the same manner as already
described. When taken up at the end of the forty days of confinement,
your friends will probably delight you by mistaking her for a male
goshawk,[71] so great will be her size. What a goshawk will do, she
will do.
The author has also adopted the above plan with nestlings of
the _Shāhīn_, the Saker and the _Qizil_ Goshawk, with eminently
satisfactory results. He humbly begs leave to add that the idea is an
original one.
FOOTNOTES:
[57] _Bāsha_ P.; _qirg͟hī, qirqī_, etc. T. (Accipiter nisus).
[58] _Chāk͟hrūq_, also called _bachcha hubara_, the common
stone-plover (_Œdicnemus crepitans_).
[59] _Pterocles arenarius_. The common Persian name is _siyāh sīna_
or “black breast.” The author, however, invariably gives it its
Turki name _bāqir-qara_ or _bāg͟hir qara_, a word having the same
signification. The Pin-tailed Sand-grouse is called _qil-i quiruq_ T.:
it is the _qat̤ā_ of the Arabs.
[60] _Yāplāq_, T.; _vide_ under short-eared owl.
[61] The late Sir Henry Lumsden (who used to hawk “ravine deer” with
_charg͟hs_ in Hoti Mardan), told the translator in Scotland that he
had frequently seen wild sparrow-hawks kill wood-pigeons, and that he
had that very morning seen a sparrow-hawk _knock over_ an old cock
pheasant on the lawn, which is was of course unable to hold. Hume, in
_My Scrap Book_ (page 132), under the description of his “Dove Hawk”
expresses a doubt whether the “true nisus” would kill a bird as large
as a dove: _vide_ note 72, page 15.
[62] _T̤apīdan_, “to bate.” “‘Bate, bating;’ fluttering or flying off
the fist.... Literally to beat the air with the wings, from the French
_battre_.”—_Harting._
[63] _i.e._, about the middle of September.
[64] _Tīhū_ or _tayhū_; the desert or sand-partridge, called in the
Panjab _sī-sī_ or _sū-sū_ from its cry. It is not such a favourite
cage-bird as the black partridge or the _chukor_. It is not used for
fighting: both sexes are spurless. In Oudh the sparrow-hawk is flown
at grey partridges without the assistance of dogs.
[65] The value of a fowl is about four pence.
[66] “‘Manning, manned’; making a hawk tame by accustoming her to
man’s presence.”—_Harting._
[67] _Mag͟hz-i ustuk͟hwān-ash siyāh mī-shavad_, _lit._ “the marrow of
her bones becomes black.”
[68] “And we shall say that hawkys doon draw When they bere tymbering
to their nestes.”—_Boke of St. Albans._ [“To timber,” in old English,
is “to build a nest.”]
[69] _Parhā-yi ḥalāl_, _lit._ “lawful feathers.” There is a belief
that until the quills of the tail and wings are produced a bird is not
‘lawful’ for food.
[70] “To seel,” is to sew up the eyes: a thread is passed through the
centre of each lower eye-lid, near its edge; the two threads are then
knotted together on the top of the head, being drawn so tight that the
lower eye-lids cover and close the eyes. Wild birds so treated sit
quite still and do not injure themselves.
CHAPTER IV
THE _PĪQŪ_[72] SPARROW-HAWK
THE _Pīqū_ (_Shikra_).—The next hawk to be described is the _Pīqū_.
There are two varieties. The first, or tawny variety, has the markings
on the breast large and distinct. The second, or dark variety, has a
reddish tinge running through the darker colour of its plumage.
These hawks arrive in the country about the beginning of September,
some twenty days before the advent of the Sparrow-hawks.
INFERIORITY OF EYESS _Pīqū_.—Unlike the Sparrow-hawk, the eyess of
the _Pīqū_ is much inferior to the passage-hawk; the eyess, from its
craven spirit, being with difficulty entered to quarry. For this
reason it is little esteemed. The eyess of the Sparrow-hawk, on the
contrary, surpasses the passage-hawk.
Of the two varieties, the tawny is the better, surpassing, as it does,
the Sparrow-hawk in appearance, more especially so after the first or
second moult.
The dark variety, however, is sulky and runaway.
Though slower on the wing than the Sparrow-hawk, the tawny variety
can take with success any quarry that the former can. In fact, from
a working point of view, there is little to choose between them. The
_Pīqū_ is, however, by far the hardier of the two, enduring with
indifference the extremes of heat and cold. Flown in the hot weather
from morning till night, it shows no signs of distress, but rather
seems to get brisker and brisker after each successive flight: it is
impervious to fatigue. It is certainly quite ten times hardier than
the Sparrow-hawk.
In affection for its master, it also surpasses the Sparrow-hawk,
but as before stated, it is slow on the wing, and to be flown with
success, requires to be thrown skilfully.[73] If unskilfully thrown,
the quarry will get a start, and the hawk will meet with nothing but
disappointment. The _Pīqū_ must take its quarry right off or not at
all.
In appearance the _Pīqū_ very nearly resembles the Sparrow-hawk, but
its feet are stouter, its “arms”[74] more powerful, and its wings
shorter: it has also a conspicuous dark line under the chin. The
larger this chin-line, the better the bird.[75]
FOOTNOTES:
[71] _Jurra-bāz._ A “tiercel” goshawk: _vide_ page 25, note 107.
[72] The _Pīqū_ is merely the common _Shikra_ of India (Astur
badius—_Blan_.). In a wild state this hawk preys on lizards, small
birds, rats, mice, locusts, and occasionally doves. I have once or
twice seen it chase the common Indian ground squirrel round and round
a tree, hovering in the air close to the tree and making sudden darts
to the opposite side, the squirrel all the time keeping the trunk
between it and its pursuer and chattering shrilly. I once caught a
“haggard” _shikra_ in a _do-gaza_, with a very large homing pigeon—a
cock Antwerp—as a bait. The net had been set up for an eagle. _Vide_
note 61, page 12.
[73] The _Shikra_, held in the right hand protected by a pad or
glove, the breast lying in the palm of the hand held upwards, and the
tail, legs, and points of the wings coming out between the fore-finger
and thumb, is thrown at the quarry while the quarry is still on
the ground, or else the moment it rises. The Sparrow-hawk being a
bird of swift flight is carried on the fist in the usual manner, a
“halsband” being used to steady it. It must be a very poor and badly
trained Sparrow-hawk that requires to be thrown from the hand. The
Sparrow-hawk, being a bird of nervous disposition, is hooded only when
carried by rail, or on other necessary occasions: not so the _Shikra_.
[74] “‘Arms;’ the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot.”—_Harting._
[75] The chin-stripe is not always present. The author describes its
eyes as “_Chashm-ash qarīb bi-zāq ast_.” The meaning of _bi-zāq_ I am
unable to discover.
CHAPTER V
THE _SHIKRA_
The _Shikra_[76] is said to be of stouter and finer appearance than
either the _Pīqū_ or the Sparrow-hawk and to be trained in India to
take the pied crow.[77] It is rarely found in Persia. I have never
come across it. God alone knows the facts of the case.[78]
FOOTNOTES:
[76] The author, writing from hearsay, has imagined the _Shikra_
(Astur badius) to be a separate species from the _Pīqū_. In India,
_shikras_ are flown, or rather cast, at partridges, quails, _mainās_,
and common crows. _Vide_ also note to scavenger vulture.
[77] _Kulāg͟h-i ablaq_; the Royston crow, the common crow of Persia,
is a different species from the common crow of India. The Royston or
Hooked Crow is, for a falcon, a far easier quarry than the rook.
[78] Muhammadans frequently qualify their statements by some such
expression, the inference being that men are prone to err and that
exact knowledge lies with God alone. It is related of the Prophet
that once, on being asked how many legs his horse had, he dismounted,
counted with care, and then said, “Four.” Had he made a positive
statement from memory, the Almighty might have altered the number to
two, or to three, and so convicted him of error.
CHAPTER VI
THE SERPENT EAGLE
We now come to the Serpent Eagle,[79] so well known to every fowler.
Should one be desired as a pet, it can either be captured by any of
the ordinary fowler’s devices, or else taken with a _chark͟h_ trained
to eagles.[80] It must be fed principally on snakes, as it will not
thrive on any other food.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] _Sanj._ Perhaps the Common Serpent Eagle (_Circaëtus gallicus_).
The author in two lines of imperfect description—omitted in the
translation—also states that in size and appearance it so nearly
resembles the buzzard (_sār_), _vide_ p. 32, note 133, that even an
experienced falconer might easily mistake the two. The author does not
include this amongst the _ʿUqāb_ or Eagles, _vide_ Chapter XII.
[80] For this poaching flight, _vide_ pages 113-114.
CHAPTER VII
THE EAGLE OWL
We now come to the owls, of which there are eight or nine species, the
most magnificent of them all being the Great Eagle Owl.[81]
GREAT EAGLE OWL.—Nestlings of this species are frequently taken
by fowlers, reared by hand, and then trained[82] for the sport of
“owling.” When first taken from the nest, they must be well and
frequently fed, and be kept in as high condition as possible; for if
at all neglected at this age, the immature feathers become “strangled”
and fall out.
As soon as Autumn commences and the weather begins to cool, _i.e._,
as soon as the birds of prey and other birds have commenced their
in-migration from the hills and other summer-quarters, the nestling
owl is taken up, fitted with jesses,[83] carried on the fist, sparely
dieted, and “manned,” just like a young hawk in training. When
thoroughly “manned,” a stick is procured about twenty inches long: to
one end of this a circular piece of black horse-blanket, or felt, is
securely fastened. To this again a twist of black goat-hair rope[84]
is attached, so that by its means the owl’s meat may be tied on to the
black felt.
The fowler, in the morning, places the stick, garnished with meat,
about two paces from him on the ground. He then takes the owl on
his fist and shows it the meat on the stick. The owl will leave the
fowler’s fist and fly to the meat. It is allowed to eat a little only
of the meat, being taken up and flown at this lure a second, and a
third time. It is then permitted to make a light meal and is removed.
In the late afternoon the lesson of the morning is repeated, the
distance from which the owl is flown being slightly increased.
The above training is continued daily, the distance being increased
step by step, till the owl will fly a good long way to the garnished
stick laid on the ground. When this stage of the owl’s education is
reached, the stick is no longer laid down, but, felt-side upwards, is
planted _lightly_ in the ground, in such a manner that the moment the
owl settles on the felt to feed, the stick collapses. If the stick is
planted too firmly, it will not fall flat to the ground, the result
being that the owl remains suspended half way. As soon as the owl
will fly readily to the upright stick, from a distance of five- or
six-hundred paces,[85] its education may be considered complete.
Now, if accidents are to be avoided, the owl, during the whole of its
training, must have been fed on nothing but red meat, meat without
the vestige of a feather. If fed on pigeons or fowls, or any kind of
“feather,” it may learn the fatal vice of bird-killing, a vice that
will be fully appreciated by the fowler the first time a fine falcon
becomes entangled in his net; for seeing the falcon struggling in the
net, that dog-begotten owl will abandon the lure, and fastening on to
the captive, will by a single squeeze of its deadly feet deprive her
of life. Before the fowler can arrive, the murder is done, and his
regrets—of what avail are they?
In addition to the owl, the fowler must procure a fine silk net. The
silk thread from which it is made should be woven of six or seven
fibres and should be dyed to match the ground where the net will
eventually be set up. When in position, the net should be invisible.
In size it should be about ten feet long by sixteen to eighteen feet
broad.[86] A very long fine silk cord of the same colour as the net is
threaded through its top meshes, and the net (erected much in the same
manner as an ordinary _du-gaza_[87] for catching sparrow-hawks), is
supported in an upright position by two very light poles[88] as long
as the breadth of the net, and these are placed under the cord, at
fourteen to fifteen paces distance from the ends of the net. The ends
of the cord are made fast to pegs driven into the ground at a good
distance from the ends of the net. The poles must be so erected that,
at any slight shock to the net, they will collapse suddenly.
The “luring-stick,” garnished with a shank of sheep or goat securely
tied to the black felt, is now erected exactly in the centre of the
net, and about five feet[89] from it. The net so arranged is in
position for use.
The fowler now takes the owl on his fist, shows it the garnished
“luring-stick,” and then turns about and walks off in the opposite
direction for a distance of five- or six-hundred paces: he then halts,
turns about again, and casting off the owl into the air, quickly
conceals himself.
The owl, in accordance with its previous training, flies straight
for the lure, and is soon closely mobbed by all the birds of the
neighbourhood. Do not leave your ambush; watch. If you are near the
hills, perhaps a goshawk, _qizil_ or _t̤arlān_, or else a saker falcon
will come down and join the crowd. The owl, however, having no other
object but to reach its goal, ignores the clamouring presence of its
pursuers and continues on its straight course. The first bird to
buffet the owl, on its alighting on the lure, is a fast prisoner in
the net.
Let us suppose a noble saker falcon has thus fallen a victim to your
fowler toils. Leave your ambush, and, cautiously and gently, I adjure
thee by God, go and secure thy prisoner, treating her with all honour
and respect.
The eyes of a newly caught hawk should be “seeled” on the spot, and if
a fine needle and fine thread (not silk) be used for the purpose, the
falconer into whose hands the hawk eventually falls, will call down
blessings, not curses, on the operator’s head.
NESTLING OF EAGLE-OWL PREFERRED.—For the above sport, the nestling is
preferred to the wild caught bird. Being ignorant and inexperienced,
and consequently more courageous, it treats eagles and other unknown
dangers, with contempt. The nestling has also greater staying
power.[90] The hours it should be flown are from early morning till
about eleven o’clock, and from three in the afternoon till within half
an hour of sunset. A hundred flights in the day are not too much for a
really good bird.[91]
DISADVANTAGES OF WILD-CAUGHT OWL.—The wild-caught owl soon gets done
up, and after a few flights gets sulky and flies off aimlessly and
settles on the ground.
ARAB NAME FOR EAGLE-OWL.—The Arabs call the Eagle-Owl _Fahd^u
’l-Layl_, or “Panther[92] of the Night.” What the Golden Eagle is to
the day, the Eagle-Owl is to the night. Hares and foxes fall an easy
prey to it.[93]
RIDING DOWN EAGLE-OWL.—Should you, by chance, when riding out in the
open country, put up an Eagle-Owl, set your horse into a gallop and
start in hot chase. If closely pressed, the owl will not rise more
than thrice; after that it may be easily captured.[94]
TREATMENT OF NEWLY CAUGHT EAGLE-OWL.—It is not at all necessary to
“seel” the eyes of an owl captured in the above manner. It should at
once be placed on the fist and “carried” like a short-winged hawk; if
it declines to sit up, duck its head under water three or four times
in rapid succession. This will soon bring it to its senses and send
away its perversity: plunging its head in cold water extinguishes the
fire of pride in its heart and makes it steady as a rock.[95]
FOOTNOTES:
[81] _Shāh-būf._
[82] _Rasānīdan_, “to train.”
[83] _Pācha-band._ “Jesses, the short narrow straps of leather
fastened round a hawk’s legs to hold her by.”—_Harting._ The jesses
are never removed from the hawk’s legs. In the East the jesses are
frequently made of woven silk or cotton, with small rings or “varvels”
attached to their ends: with the short-winged hawks, the use of
leather jesses is the exception. The “leash” is a long narrow thong
(or in the East a silk or cotton cord) that is attached to the end of
the “jesses” by means of a swivel, or otherwise, and is used for tying
up a hawk to a perch or block. _Vide_ also page 78, note 315.
[84] _Qātima_, a word used by the E. Turks and Kurds for a rope of
goat hair. In India gut, or the sinews of cranes, are used for binding
lures, etc.
[85] _Qadam_; a short pace of about twenty inches.
[86] _Ẕiraʿ._ “Three _ẕiraʿ_ long, by five or six _ẕiraʿ_ broad.” The
Persian _ẕiraʿ_ is variously stated to be a measure of forty, and
forty-two inches in length.
[87] _Du-gaza_; a light, large-meshed net, six feet or more long, by
four and a half feet or more broad, and suspended between two light
bamboos or sticks, which are shod with iron spikes. This net is
planted upright, twenty yards or more away from a resting hawk, while
a live bird is pegged down in the centre of the net, a few feet from
it, and on the side opposite to the hawk. A certain amount of spare
net is gathered towards its centre and allowed to rest loose on the
ground. The hawk makes straight for the fluttering bait, through the
invisible net; the loose portion on the ground permits the net to
“belly” like a sail, while the shock given causes the light uprights
to collapse inwards, thus effectually enveloping the hawk.
[88] Presumably the length of these poles should be somewhat less than
the breadth of the net.
[89] “One and a half _ẕiraʿ_.” The old English name for hawk-catching
nets was “urines” or “uraynes.”
[90] Perhaps it can be kept in higher condition.
[91] It must not be supposed from this description that hawk-catching
is by any means an easy business. In India, in the course of two or
three weeks, the fowler _may_ not catch more than three hawks worth
keeping, and that, too, at the season the birds are migrating into the
country.
[92] Apparently a slip on the author’s part. _Fahd_ is properly the
_cheeta_ or hunting-leopard and not the panther. In Persian the former
is called _yūz_ and sometimes _yūz-palang_, while the latter is called
_palang_ only.
[93] In _Seebohm’s British Birds_, it is stated that the eagle owl
preys on capercailzie and fawns, besides hares and other game.
[94] Partridges are caught in this manner by the Baluchis round Dera
Ghazi Khan. _Vide_ also Shaw’s _High Tartary, Yarkand and Kashgar_.
CHAPTER VIII
OTHER SPECIES OF OWLS
[SHORT-EARED OWL; LONG-EARED OWL.—The author now imperfectly
describes five or six species of owl, which the translator is unable
with any certainty to identify. The first species mentioned by him is
the _Yāplāg͟h_ or _Yāplāq_, and this species he again divides into two
sub-species or races, viz., the “Desert or Plain _Yāplāq_,” and the
“Garden or Grove _Yāplāq_.” The colour of the latter is said to be
somewhat darker than that of the former. The first species is probably
the Short-eared Owl (_Otus brachyotus_); while the second is probably
either the Common Long-eared Owl (_Otus vulgaris_), or the Tawny
Wood-Owl. The author also states that the former species, once it has
successfully shifted from the first stoop of the falcon and has begun
to “tower,”[96] is an exceedingly difficult quarry, and that only a
passage _Shāhīn_ or Peregrine is equal to the flight, the Saker not
being swift enough.[97] The latter species of owl, he adds, is a poor
performer and unable to “ring up”[96] to any great distance without
being overtaken and killed.
INDIAN GRASS-OWL.—The Short-eared Owl is, however, an easier quarry
than the Indian Grass-Owl (_Strix candida_), which in India is taken
both with Sakers and Peregrines. If, however, the Saker is not in high
condition (in much higher condition than it is usually kept by natives
of India), both hawk and quarry will soon be lost to view, ringing up,
on a calm day completely out of sight and almost perpendicularly into
the sky. In this species the iris is dark; it is therefore presumed
that neither it nor any nearly allied species can be included under
the name _yāplāq_.
Indian falconers, however, in the Panjab, have only one name for both
the Short-eared and the Grass-Owl.
Afghan falconers state that, in their country, the Short-eared Owl is
a common quarry for the Saker, as well as for the Peregrine.
The author continues:]—
BRIDE OF THE WELL.—The next species of owl is smaller than the
_Yāplāq_, and is hornless. Its prevailing colour is a yellowish white,
something like that of the _Tīqūn_ Goshawk. This species is especially
common in Baghdad and other sacred places.[98] It is known to the
Arabs by the name of the “Bride of the Well.”[99] It preys principally
on the pigeons of the “Sacred Precincts;”[100] for that cuckoldy
pimp, lacking regard and consideration, has settled that the pigeons
of the precincts[100] are its proper prey, so it hunts them in the
night-watches. In the Spring the attendants pull out the young owls
from their holes in the walls, or from the interiors of the domes, and
slay them. This species is smaller than the _Yāplāq_.
LITTLE OWL (_Spotted owlet?_).—[The author next mentions a small owl
that he styles _Bāya-qūsh_ or _Chug͟hd_. In the Panjab, the spotted
owlet (_Athene Brama_) is known by the latter name.[101] The author
says of this species:]—It frequents old ruins. A young _shāhīn_,
intended for the flight of the stone-plover, should first be given two
or three pigeons from the hand, and then flown at a wild _chug͟hd_ or
two. After that it may be entered to stone-plover. The _chug͟hd_ is
useful for no other purpose but this.
“BIRD OF NIGHT-MELODY”[102] OR “BIRD OF TESTIMONY.”[103]—The next
species we come to is the “Bird of Night-melody,”[102] better known
under its popular name of “The Bird of Testimony.”[103] The male
of this beautifully marked little owlet is scarcely larger than a
lark.[104]
All the above species of owl are strictly nocturnal in their habits.
Too whit, too whoo! The helpless owl,
In evening shades alone can prowl;
To find its food, to chase its prey,
’Tis helpless quite in light of day.
FOOTNOTES:
[95] The following description of owling is taken from Blaine’s
_Encyclopedia of Rural Sports_. It is stated there that any owl may
be used, but that the great horned owl is the usual bait:—“The owl,
confined between two wooden stands or rests, is taught to fly from one
rest to the other without touching the ground. Between the rests, a
cord is stretched, on which a ring plays, and to which another slacker
cord is attached by one end, the other being fastened to the jesses
on the legs of the owl, whose movements are thus confined to flying
from one block or rest to the other. To this change of posture he is
accustomed by presenting him with food on the opposite side to that
on which he may happen to be resting, until he becomes completely
habituated to this method of exercising himself. A saloon is now
formed in the midst of a copse, of boughs, in the centre of which a
log or stand rests, and without the saloon a similar one is placed
about a hundred paces distant, the intermediate space on which the owl
is placed being cleared away. It is necessary that the top and sides
of this saloon should be covered with boughs in such a manner that
although the outside is distinctly seen there is no opening that will
admit any bird to enter with unfolded wings. Nets are placed against
the top and sides, leaving open that part only opposite to the resting
place of the owl. The fowler, now concealing himself, keeps watch,
and when he observes the owl lower his head and turn it on one side,
he becomes certain that some bird of prey is in the air. The hawk,
now marking the owl for his own, follows him into his retreat; when,
becoming hampered in the meshes of the net, he is easily secured.”
_Vide_ also _History of Fowling_, by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson:
Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1896.
[96] “‘Tower;’ ‘ring up;’ to rise spirally to a height.”—_Harting._
[97] The Indian grass-owl, _Strix candida_, though a much more
difficult quarry than the short-eared owl, can be successfully flown
by a trained saker, provided the latter is in high condition: a saker
is not fit for this flight unless she weighs _at least_ 2 lbs. 4 oz.,
better 2 lbs. 6 oz.
[98] Such as Kāz̤imayn, Najaf, Karbalā, etc.
[99] _ʿArūs-i chāh_; _ʿarūs_ is the Arabic for “bride,” but _chāh_,
“well,” is Persian.
[100] _Ḥarām_: the sacred precincts round both Mecca and Medina are
known as _ḥarām_, and certain acts such as slaying game are forbidden
within the boundaries. _Ḥarām_ is also a name for the women’s
apartments. The author by _ḥarām_ probably means the sacred precincts
of Mecca, but from the context his meaning is not clear.
[101] In the Derajat this owlet, called there _chhapākī_, is a quarry
for the _shikra_, and also for the common and the red-headed merlin.
Its blood is supposed to be a cure for prickly heat, hence its local
name. (_Chhapākī_ is a corruption of _shapākī_, “prickly heat”.) In
some parts of India it is used as a decoy for small birds.
[102] _Murg͟h-i shab-āhang._
[103] _Murg͟h-i Ḥaqq._ _Ḥaqq_ means the “Truth” or “God.” This
little owl, which is probably the Persian owlet (_Athene Persica_),
is reverenced by Muhammadans: it clings to walls and cries “_Ḥaqq,
Ḥaqq_,” after the manner of the dervishes.
[104] _Kākulī._ Elsewhere the author states that the Arabs call this
lark _quṃburah_, which is an Arab name for the Crested Lark (_Alauda
cristata_).
CHAPTER IX
THE HARRIERS
HARRIERS.—[The author next proceeds to describe what appear to be two
species of harriers. He says:]—
We now come to the _Bayl-bāqilī_, called by the Kurds,
_Dasht-māla_,[105] and by the Arabs, _Abū-ḥikb_. There are two species,
one yellow-eyed, and one dark-eyed.[106]
YELLOW-EYED SPECIES.—In the yellow-eyed species, the plumage of the
young bird is henna-coloured [chestnut brown], but after its first
moult, some white feathers make their appearance. After the second or
third moult, the plumage is very like that of the _Tīqūn_ Goshawk,
the back turning a bluish grey and the breast becoming white. The
female is about the size of a small _Qizil_ “tiercel.”[107] Only a
falconer could distinguish the adult female from a _Tīqūn_ tiercel.
The “stalke” of this species is long and slender.
DARK-EYED SPECIES.—In the dark-eyed species, there is no material
difference between the plumage of the young and the adult bird. In
the latter, however, the markings on the breast are larger. The
general colouring of the dark-eyed species is darker than that of the
yellow-eyed.
In habits, both species are similar; they haunt open plains,
preying on mice and sparrows, and occasionally on quails. They are
mean-spirited, ignoble birds, with poor and weakly frames.
WAGER WITH THE SHĀH.—When in attendance on the Shāh (may our souls be
sacrificed for him!) I once made a bet with some fellow sportsmen
that I would catch a harrier[108] and train it to take _chukor_. I
made no idle boast. Praise be to God, I won my bet and proved myself
a man of my word, for I trained it and took a _chukor_ with it. The
puissant King of Kings, who has surpassed in renown even Jamshed
and Cyrus, regarded me with extreme condescension, and in just
appreciation of my skill bestowed on me lavish commendation and a rich
robe of honour.
On a second occasion, in Baghdad, I laid a wager of a Nejd mare with
some sportsmen of that city, that within a space of fifty days I would
“reclaim”[109] one of these hawks and successfully fly it at wild
quarry. I flew it in the presence of my friends, and took with it one
black partridge,[110] one quail, and one rail.[111]
As previously stated, it is quite possible to train these hawks, as
indeed it is possible to train many other useless birds of prey: even—
The Bird whose Soul Delights the night
With care and trouble you can train,
To use its senses, use its sight,
In flying quarry on the plain.
The harrier is an ill-tempered bird with no great powers of flight.
To train it is a matter of extreme difficulty, and the result by no
means repays the labour. However, give the devil his due: it is very
long-winded.
FOOTNOTES:
[105] _Dasht-māla_ may be translated “desert-quarterer.” In the
Panjab this is the name of the Pale Harrier (_Circus Swainsonii_) and
probably also of Montague’s Harrier (_Circus cineraceus_).
[106] In the young of the Marsh Harrier, the iris is hazel. The iris
of the female of Montague’s Harrier is also said to be hazel.
[107] “‘Tiercel, Tercel, Tassel’ (Shakespeare) and ‘Tarsell’ (Bert),
the male of any species of hawk, the female being termed a falcon. The
tiercel is said by some to be so called from being about one-third
smaller in size than the falcon; by others it is derived from the old
belief that each nest contained three young birds, of which two were
females and the third and smallest a male. Note the familiar line in
_Romeo and Juliet_: ‘Oh! for a falconer’s voice to lure this tassel
gentle back again.’”—_Harting._
[108] It is not clear which of the two species the author trained, but
apparently the “black-eyed.”
[109] “Reclaim;” Fr. _réclamer_, to make a hawk tame, gentle and
familiar.—_Harting._
[110] _Durrāj_; the Common Francolin (_F. vulgaris_). It is a
favourite cage-bird in India, especially with the Muhammadans, who
liken its call to the words _Subhān Teri Qudrat_ “Oh Lord! Thy Power”
(_i.e._, who can fathom it?). The practical Hindus say its call is,
_Chha ser kī kacharī_, “Twelve pounds of _kacharī_.”
[111] _Yalva_ is a name incorrectly applied to several species of bird
with long beaks, as the woodcock and snipe, etc. I am told that in
Teheran it is applied to a rail.
CHAPTER X
THE LAMMERGEYER OR BEARDED VULTURE
[The description of the Bearded Vulture[112] as given by the author is
sufficiently accurate for identification. He, however, adorns it with
“two horns or ears like those of the horned owls.” He then continues:]—
The Lammergeyer is noted for its wondrous powers of flight. It soars
aloft, bearing with ease a bone as large as the bleached thigh-bone
of a donkey. This it drops on a rock, and then descends to eat the
shattered fragments.[113] The Poet has said of it:—
“The _Humā_ o’er other birds has flown
Because its food is only bone.”[114]
POPULAR SUPERSTITION.—It is a popular superstition that any one
wilfully slaying a Lammergeyer will meet his death within forty days.
Once, when out hawking, I saw one of these fateful birds seated on
a stone a short distance from me. With me was a servant, a sturdy
villain fearing nothing. Gun in hand he approached the Lammergeyer,
bent on slaughter. Do all I could, I failed to dissuade him. I told
him the popular superstition, but he laughed and said, “Oh! that’s an
old woman’s story.” Heedless of my advice he shot the Lammergeyer,
and died himself on the fortieth day. This is a fact: I myself was an
eye-witness. Was his death a mere coincidence, or is there truth in
the vulgar belief? God knows.
TAKING A LAMMERGEYER WITH A _Chark͟h_.—I was once hawking in
_Sulaymānīya Shahrzūr_[115] and saw what I took to be an eagle,[116]
seated on a stone some little way off. I had with me a very fine
_chark͟h_[117] trained to eagles.[118] To unhood and cast it off was
the work of a moment, and it was not till I had actually secured
the quarry, that I discovered it was no eagle but a Lammergeyer. I
recollected the fate of my servant, and hastily released it. [By a
play on the words _humā_ and _humāyūn_, the author here pays the Shāh
a flowery and far-fetched compliment, difficult to render in English.
He pretends that the popular belief mentioned in the first note on
the previous page was certainly fulfilled in his case, since the King
of Kings had always distinguished him by his especial friendship and
bounty, and thus raised him to the dignity of ordinary kingship. He
adds:]—
Through the lucky shadow of the Humā’s wing
Am I thus highly honoured by the King.
Honoured of him, Lord of my fate I stand,
And rich as Korah, through his bounteous hand.
FOOTNOTES:
[112] _Humā_; the Lammergeyer, Bearded Vulture, or Ossifrage.
Translators, imagining the _Humā_ to be a fabulous creature, have
identified it with the Phœnix. It was a popular Persian superstition
that the shadow of a _Humā_ falling on a person’s head predicted
his rise to sovereignty. The adjective (and proper name) _humāyūn_,
signifying “august,” “fortunate,” and “royal,” is derived from this
bird. In the Panjab, the Lammergeyer, common as it is, seems to have
no special native name.
[113] It is well-known that the Lammergeyer does not confine itself
to dry bones. I once saw one shot in the Tochi valley over a dead
fowl laid out as a bait. When shot it was carrying off the fowl in
its beak and not in its feet. The most contradictory statements exist
regarding its habits. As it sweeps round the hill side, the fowls in
the compounds show no alarm and will let it pass within a very few
yards of them. At Kingri, in Baluchistan, I saw one stoop at a flock
of _chukor_ and sent a sowar to the spot to see what had happened:
the man returned with a _chukor_, unbroken and still warm. Some years
ago at Sheikh-budin, the hill station near Dera Ismail Khan, I saw
one stoop repeatedly at a _mārk͟hor_ kid, on a narrow ledge on the
cliff-face below me. At each stoop the plucky mother lowered her
horns to the “charge,” and effectually repulsed the attacks of the
assailant. Whether the Lammergeyer was really trying to brush the kid
off the cliff, with intent to feed on its mangled remains, or whether
it was merely animated by that spirit of mischief that enters into
birds as well as beasts, I cannot say. The Pathan shikārīs with me
stated that they knew from experience that the former was the case. A
shot Lammergeyer shown to a tame monkey will drive it into a paroxysm
of terror. Can it be that the latter recognizes in it a natural enemy,
or does it mistake it for an eagle?
[114] _Saʿdī_: Gulistan, Chap. I, St. 3.
[115] In _Kurdistān_, and a little over a hundred miles south of Lake
Urūmiah.
[116] _ʿUqāb._ The author uses this word as a generic term. By
falconers of certain parts of the Panjab the name is specially applied
to the Tawny Eagle.
[117] The author applies the name _chark͟h_ only to nestlings of the
Saker Falcon: passage falcons he calls _bālābān_. In the Panjab, and
in Kabul, the species is termed respectively _charg͟h_ and _chark͟h_,
the word _bālābān_ being unknown except to a travelled few.
[118] _Qara-qūsh._ Any eagle, but specially the golden eagle. For a
description of this “flight” see pages 113-114.
CHAPTER XI
THE OSPREY[119]
[The author gives only a very brief description of the Osprey and
its habits, mentioning the peculiar structure of its feet, and its
habit of hovering over water. He also mentions that like the _Shikra_
Sparrow-hawk (_Pīg͟hū_), and the _Sangak_, the iris is sometimes dark
and sometimes yellow.[120] He adds:]—
I once took one alive with a _chark͟h_ and kept it in confinement for
some little time. It could not be induced to eat meat, refusing all
food except fish. It is with reference to the osprey that the poet has
said:—
“Thro’ the mercy of God and His tender care
The sea yields her fish to the fowl of the air.”
FOOTNOTES:
[119] _Damirdizināq_ T. Another name is _damir-qaynāg͟h_ T., from
_damir_ T. “iron” and _qaynāg͟h_ T. “claws” (_nāk͟hūn_ P.). The author
does not include this amongst the _ʿUqāb_ or Eagles. According to F.
O. Morris, the osprey in olden times was occasionally trained for
falconry.
[120] In the only living specimen examined by me, the iris was light
brown, possibly a mark of nonage. In several standard works consulted,
the iris is stated to be yellow.
Part II
_THE DARK-EYED BIRDS OF PREY_
CHAPTER XII
THE EAGLES[121] AND BUZZARDS[122]
[The author commences this chapter with the statement that it is his
intention to describe those species of the black-eyed birds of prey
that have at different times come into his possession, or that have
been trained by him “according to their several capabilities.” His
descriptions of the eagles are too vague for identification. All the
eagles, he says, are migratory, with the exception of the _ʿUqāb-i
māh-dum_ or “Moon-tailed eagle,”[123] which he describes as follows:]—
_ʿUqāb-i māh-dum_, “THE MOON-TAILED EAGLE.”—The whole of the tail of
this eagle is white, with the exception of the end, which is black.
The plumage of the breast, back, and head, is uniformly dark, without
markings of any description. Its powers of fasting are extraordinary:
it can endure seven or eight days without food and yet be not one
whit the worse. Migration, too, is not a necessity for it. Even in
the depth of Winter I have observed it high up in the snows. It
seldom descends into the plains. The fierce rays of the sun and the
bitter blasts of the snows are all one to its proud, enduring nature.
I have observed it in the hills, preying on partridges, hares, and
“lambs.”[124] It is the most daring and powerful of all the eagles.
_ʿUqāb-i kūchigān_ [WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLE?].—The next species is
the _ʿUqāb-i kūchigān_. In this species the whole of the tail (which
is rather short) is white. The wings are long, and the flight is
exceedingly swift. The plumage of the back and breast is dark. The
beak, which is large and powerful as a vulture’s, is of the colour of
amber. This eagle always hunts and feeds in couples, preying chiefly
on water-fowl; hence it is seldom found far from water.
_ʿUqāb-i ā,īna-lī_ [IMPERIAL EAGLE?].—In this eagle, which is smaller
than either of the preceding, the back, breast, claws and beak are all
uniformly dark; the colouring of the head is a dark reddish brown.
Fowlers have named it _Ā,īna-lī_[125] from the fact of its having a
few white feathers in its back.
_Karlak._—This eagle equals the first-named species, _i.e._, the
_Māh-dum_, in size. The beak and claws are black and extraordinarily
powerful. The plumage is generally brown, and covered with markings.
The head and back are, however, one uniform colour. In habits it
resembles all the eagles.
BLACK EAGLE.—Another species is black without markings, but the colour
of the head is slightly different from that of the body. It is not a
very noble species.
_ʿUqāb-i zard_ (“YELLOW EAGLE.”)—Description. The plumage of the back
is very dark, with a tinge of yellow in it, while that of the breast
is tawny (yellow), and marked with longitudinal black drops. The head
and neck are very handsome, and somewhat like a goshawk’s. This eagle,
in the immature plumage, is called the _ʿUqāb-i sīna-bāzī_.
Once, when in attendance on the Shāh, I trained a single specimen of
this species, and took a certain amount of quarry with it.
_Būq-k͟hura_; THE “FROG-EATER” [SPOTTED EAGLE?].—Another species of
eagle is the _ʿUqāb-i qurbāqa-chī_[126] (“Frog-eater”), called by the
people of Kurdistan Sulemāniya, _Būq-k͟hura_. [126] The plumage of the
head, neck, back, and breast is blackish yellow. This eagle frequents
marshes and reed beds, preying on wounded or dead water-fowl. Failing
these, it contents itself with frogs, dead fish, or other stranded
material. It is from this habit of eating frogs that it has earned its
names of “Frog-eagle” and “Frog-eater.”
_Dūbarār_ [A HAWK-EAGLE?].—In habits the _Dūbarār_ resembles the
eagles, but not in size, the male being scarcely larger than a female
goshawk.[127] This species always hunts in couples and is very daring
and bold by nature. In the immature bird, the plumage of the back is
a yellowish black, while that of the breast is a dark red without
spot or marking. After the moult, the plumage of the breast assumes a
deeper and brighter hue. The “pendant”[128] feathers of the thigh hang
down to the tarsus.
When in _ʿArabistān_,[129] I once took one with a _chark͟h_ I had
trained to eagles. I succeeded in training it in the space of about
forty days and flew it successfully at black partridge, _parah
malā_,[130] hare, and common heron.[131] A friend of mine then took it
from me.
Large numbers of these eagles breed in the vicinity of _Hamadān_.[132]
I have trained nestlings, but never with success: they are poor
performers on the wing. The wild-caught bird is superior in every way.
Still I found this species swifter and more tractable than any other
kind of eagle.
THE _Sār_ (OR BUZZARD).—Another kind of eagle is the buzzard,[133]
of which there are two common species. In the first the general
colouring of the plumage is very dark without spot or marking: the
feet and cere are a deep orange yellow. The plumage of the second is
tawny. Both species are ill-conditioned and villainous by nature.
Their prey is rats, mice, frogs, lizards, and wounded or sickly birds.
When they dare, they rob their more weakly neighbours. They are too
mean-spirited for the purposes of falconry.
FOOTNOTES:
[121] _ʿUqāb_ Ar., or _qara-qush_ T. The latter word properly means
“black bird of prey,” and is a term specially applied to the Golden
Eagle.
[122] _Sār_, _vide_ note 133, page 32.
[123] _ʿUqāb-i māh-dum_, “moon-tailed eagle.” Can this be Pallas’s sea
eagle? The author does not mention that it is found in the vicinity of
water.
[124] _Barra_; properly a lamb. The author elsewhere uses this word
for the fawn of the “ravine-deer.”
[125] _ʿUqāb-i ā,īna-lī._ _Ā,īna_ means “mirror.”
[126] _ʿUqāb-i qurbāqa-chī_; _būq-k͟hura_. _Qurbāqa_ and _bāqa_ are
both Turki names for a frog. _Būq_ T. is “ordure,” and figuratively
anything filthy. The Spotted Eagle (_Aquila nævia_) feeds largely on
frogs.
[127] The length of the female goshawk is said to be 22 to 26 inches:
of the male 18 to 21 inches. There is in Persia a species of small
eagle or hawk-eagle that always hunts in pairs and that is known to
Persians by the name of _Du-Barādarān_ or “The Two Brothers.” The
_Dūbarār_ of the author is perhaps a corruption of _Du-Barādarān_. In
the _Ḥāyat^u ’l-Ḥaywān_, the Arab name of the latter is said to be
_Zumaj_, a word that occurs in old Arabic and Persian MSS. on falconry.
[128] _Parhā-yi rān-ash tā pācha rīk͟hta._ Possibly by this expression
the author means that the whole of the tarsus is feathered. “‘Pendant
Feathers,’ those behind the thighs of a hawk.”—_Harting._
[129] _ʿArabistān_ or _K͟huzistān_: its capital Shuster is about 130
miles north of the head of the Persian Gulf.
[130] _Parah malā_ (?); possibly for _Parlā_ T., which is said to be
the name of a “black water-bird with a white beak.” The coot?
[131] _Ḥaqar_: variously spelt in old Persian MSS. on falconry
_awqār_, _aqār_ and _ʿuqār_; latter correct.
[132] _Hamadān_: about 100 miles North-East of Kirmānshāh.
[133] _Sār_ (for _sā_?): Apparently two species of large buzzard are
so-called by the author. This word must not be confused with _sār_ the
common Persian word for starling. In Dr. Scully’s list of the Turkish
names of birds, _sā_ is said to be the name applied to Buzzards,
Harriers, and Kites.
CHAPTER XIII
KITES AND HARRIERS
KITES [AND HARRIERS].—There are three common species of kites.[134]
In the first, the two centre tail-feathers, called by the Arabs
_ʿamūd_,[135] and by Persian and Turkish[136] falconers _qāpāq_,[137]
are shorter than the rest, the outer feathers being longer. The
general colouring of the plumage is a dirty brown with dark coloured
drops on the breast. The feet are small and the tarsi[138] short.
2ND SPECIES [MARSH HARRIER?].—The second species haunts marshes and
reedy pools in quest of frogs and rats. In this species the tarsus is
long[139] and unfeathered, and the feet are small, ill-looking, and
black. There is also a certain amount of white on the head.
3RD SPECIES.—In the third species the general colouring of the
plumage—with the exception of the head, which is reddish—is very dark.
In habits it resembles the two preceding.
All three species are cowardly and mean-spirited. A good _T̤arlān_,
trained to large quarry, will generally take them.[140]
Should the fork-tailed kite[141] see a sparrow-hawk or merlin with a
bird in its feet, it will fuss round it, doing its utmost to steal it
from the lucky possessor. If unsuccessful, it returns to its quest of
mice and garbage.
These above-described species are related to the eagles. Under this
head, too, I have even included the Carrion Vulture[142] and the
Scavenger Vulture.[143]
FOOTNOTES:
[134] _Chīlāq_ T. The kite is rare in Persia. It is, however, fairly
common near Bushire.
[135] _ʿAmūd_ Ar., “a prop, a pillar.”
[136] Turk. This word properly includes Turks, Tartars, and all who
claim their descent from Turk the son of Japhet. A large proportion of
the population of Persia is Turkish.
[137] _Qāpāq_, the “deck-feathers” of old English falconers. According
to the _Boke of St. Albans_ the centre or uppermost tail-feather was
called the _beme feder of the tayle_, the flight-feathers being called
_the beme federes of the wyng_.
[138] _Sāq_, properly the shin or shank of a man, animal, or bird.
Elsewhere the author, with one other exception, uses the word _qalam_,
“a pen, etc.,” for “tarsus.”
[139] The Kites have short tarsi, the Harriers, long. In the adult
Harriers the iris is yellow, but in the immature birds, of several
species at any rate, the iris is brown. The iris of the common Pariah
Kite (_Milvus govinda_) is brown, while that of the “Common Kite” of
England (_M. regalis_) is said to be yellow.
CHAPTER XIV
THE VULTURES
VULTURE.—[The author now briefly describes a species of bare-necked
vulture that he calls _Dāl_, apparently the only species of true
vulture known to him. The description contains nothing of interest. He
continues:]—
SCAVENGER OR EGYPTIAN VULTURE.—Before the first moult the plumage of
the Scavenger Vulture is dark, with a few small light-coloured spots
on the back and breast. The head is nude and yellow. After the first
moult, a certain number of white feathers make their appearance. After
the second, the bird becomes quite white, with the exception of the
ends of the flight-feathers, which remain black.
The gut[144] of this vulture, which is at the end of the sternum,[145]
applied as a poultice, fresh and warm, for three consecutive days,
is a certain cure for scabbed eyes that water, and from which the
lashes have dropped off, or for fistulous sores that will yield to no
ointment. The poultices should not be removed for twelve hours: it
will then be noticed that numerous minute worms have been drawn by
them from the wound. At the third application, if it please God, a
cure will be effected. The author can testify to the efficacy of this
remedy.
USE AS A “TRAIN.”—If it is intended to train a _chark͟h_ to take
eagles, it should first be given the necessary “trains” by hand,
and then entered to wild quarry by being flown a few times at young
scavenger vultures in the dark immature plumage. As they are slow on
the wing and show no fight,[146] the young _chark͟h_ can take them
with ease.
Though purely carrion feeders, the Vultures (as also the Raven
described in the next chapter) are generally included amongst the
Rapacious Birds: these huge birds, with beaks powerful enough to tear
open the skin of a dead camel or ass, are unable to catch and kill
even a helpless partridge.
FOOTNOTES:
[140] Haggard Sakers will generally fly at harriers, refusing to give
up the chase and so getting lost. A haggard peregrine I had killed a
harrier.
[141] _Chīlāq-i qāpāq-i kūtāh._
[142] _Dāl_; elsewhere _dāl-i murdār-k͟hur_.
[143] _Kachal charkas_; the Egyptian Vulture: _kachal_ means
“scald-headed;” _charkas_ is corrupted form of _karkas_, a common term
for a vulture. The Egyptian vulture feeds largely on human ordure, a
habit that can be traced in the popular name given to it by soldiers
in India.
[144] _K͟hazīna_, _k͟hazāna_, “the gut.” This word does not mean the
“crop.”
[145] _ʿAz̤m-i zawraqī_, _lit._ “boat-bone.”
CHAPTER XV
THE RAVEN
RAVEN.—The Raven,[147] though a carrion feeder, has just claims to be
considered a Bird of Prey. I recollect once seeing a raven in the
jungle seize a wild _chukor_; I eventually succeeded in releasing the
bird from its clutches.
It is a peculiarity of the Raven that if it is deprived of sight by
having its eyeballs pierced with a needle, it may, by confinement in
darkness for the space of twenty-four hours, be completely restored to
sight.
In _ʿArabistān_ it is caught in traps and trained for fowling in the
same manner that the Kestril[148] is trained in the _Dashtistān_[149]
of _Fārs_, and the eagle-owl in _Kirmānshāh_[150] and elsewhere.
FOOTNOTES:
[146] Some thirty odd years ago the _shikra_ used to be trained in
the Kapurthala State to take the Egyptian Vulture. The young _shikra_
was entered by being fed on a live vulture with seeled eyes, meat
being tied on the back or head. The Egyptian Vulture is slow in taking
flight, and when on the ground will let a man approach to within a
few feet of it. The falconer, _shikra_ in hand, has only to walk up
to within a few feet of the unsuspecting vulture while it is resting
on the ground, throw the _shikra_, and secure the quarry before it
has even got so far as to spread its wings for flight. It is probably
this “flight” that is referred to by old travellers who state that the
_shikra_ is flown at eagles. The Egyptian Vulture is also a quarry
easily taken by a trained lynx. The lynx simply bounds quietly and
quickly up to it, and springs as the vulture prepares to spread its
wings. Partridges and such quarry are, however, scientifically stalked
by it.
[147] _Kulāg͟h-i siyāh-i quzqūn._ I once saw a pair of ravens
harassing a wild hare by pulling tufts of hair and skin out of it. Had
I not interfered they would have killed it. Wild ravens in India will
chase house-pigeons and occasionally enter the dovecot and kill them.
CHAPTER XVI
THE _SHUNQĀR_ OR JERFALCON
SHUNQĀR OR JERFALCON.—The Jerfalcon[151] is a species known to me
only by description. During the whole of my sporting career, I have
neither come across it myself, nor known a falconer to whom it was
more than a name.
SPECIMEN BROUGHT FROM RUSSIA.—In the year of the Flight 1284[152] a
strange falcon which I take to be a _Shunqār_ was bought in Russia for
a great price, and presented as a curiosity to His Lofty and Imperial
Highness, the Shāh of Shāhs, the Shadow of God. Out of the plenitude
of his bounty and the immensity of his condescension, His Most Noble
and Exalted Majesty delivered it into the humble keeping of his
servant [_i.e._, the author], decreeing that it should be trained to
the flight of the Common Crane. The Royal Gift was accepted by this
slave, with due tokens of humility: he kissed the falcon’s jesses and
then placed it on his obedient head:—
I stood before the King as might a slave;
The Royal hand to me the falcon gave.
I placed it on my head in fashion meet
When I’d imprinted kisses on its feet.
Scanning the bird with a falconer’s eye, I saw that three
flight-feathers of each wing were old and unshed. It was evident it
had been taken up while still in the moult, so I had it replaced in
the mew[153] and fed on fresh birds, with frequent changes of diet.
Three months later it was taken up clean moulted, not a single old
feather remaining.
As it may interest falconers, I append a description of this
particular falcon.
DESCRIPTION.—In size it was about half as large again as a fine female
Saker Falcon.[154] The plumage of the back and head was a brown ash
colour, and each feather of the back and tail was marked with two
tiny white spots. From the back of the neck to the rump, the plumage
was ash-coloured, and covered with small yellowish-white spots. The
breast was white, each breast feather being tipped with one small
black spot and margined with black marks interlacing each other like
the links of a chain. The tarsi[155] were robust and short; the feet
small in proportion to its size, but stout and powerful; the claws and
beak black; the iris dark, and the thighs[156] as thick as those of
a male eagle.[157] The wing in length was something betwixt that of
the long-winged and short-winged hawks, longer than that of a _qizil_
or _t̤arlān_, and shorter than that of a _shāhīn_ or a saker. The
tail was broad and full of spots and markings. Like the _Qara-qūsh-i
ā,īna-lī_,[158] it had a few stiff white feathers in the back, whether
a mark of the species or merely a sign of old age, I am unable to say.
(White feathers do occasionally make their appearance in aged sakers.)
In weight it equalled nearly three sakers.[159] From my experience of
hawks I should say that, when it reached me, it was in its tenth or
twelfth moult. What its immature plumage may have been like, I cannot
even guess.
TEACHING THE FALCON TO KNOW ITS NAME.—After removing this falcon from
the mew,[160] I commenced her training with the utmost care. I named
her “_Shunqār_.” By feeding her through the hood, calling her by name
the while, she quickly learnt to recognize her name and associate it
with a good meal.[161]
When she had somewhat abated her high condition and had begun to show
a proper inclination for food, I attached a strong “creance”[162] to
her jesses and carried her out into the field to lure her to a lure of
crane’s wings. Unhooded by my falconer she started with eagerness,
but had hardly flown a few feet before she subsided to the ground and
attempted to finish the distance on foot. I examined her carefully.
Her feathers were perfect, and she appeared sound in wind and limb.
What could be the cause of her extraordinary behaviour? Puzzled and
perplexed, I buried my head in the collar of reflection, determined to
unravel the tangled skein of the difficulty. Still, ransack my brains
as I might, the clue to the mystery eluded me. I then screwed up my
courage, and putting my trust in God, removed the “creance” from her
feet, and called her again. The result was much as before. I bit the
finger of astonishment, and by reason of the falcon’s great infirmity
became plunged in the abyss of despondency. Burying my head in the
collar of reflection my thoughts drifted to those animal-gardens in
Europe, where people buy strange beasts and birds for ridiculous
prices, and after turning them into a public show for a few years,
tire of them and put them up to public auction. It then dawned on me
that my falcon must have come from one of those very gardens, and
that, like a long-caged parrot, which, wild defied the swiftness of
the Sparrow-Hawk,[163] can now flutter no higher than its own perch,
it too from long imprisonment had grown stiff-jointed and wing-tied.
DAILY EXERCISE.—That the falcon might recover her lost powers of
flight, I set about exercising her daily. Morning and evening I used
to bear her to the top of a high mound[164] and cast her off, giving
her five flights at each exercise. On the sixteenth day, instead of,
as usual, merely flying down to the level, she went off some distance
and settled on a second mound. I decided this was sufficient and
commenced calling her to the lure, luring her at first from high
ground to a lower level.
“TRAINS.”—When her powers of flight were fully recovered I gave
her a certain number of “trains,” and gradually succeeded in
thoroughly entering her to common crane. At last one joyous day, on
the auspicious occasion of the Royal return from a pilgrimage to
_Qum_,[165] I unhooded her at a common crane near the caravan stage
of _Pul-i Dallāk_,[166] and in the Imperial presence of the Shāh—let
our souls be sacrificed for him! Right nobly the falcon acquitted
herself, “towering” up into the clouds, and striking a huge crane down
to the dust of the earth.
And on the spot _Kāshānī’s_ spirit fled,
You might have said he ne’er was else than dead.
DISPOSITION OF THE “_Shunqār_.”—Judging from my small experience,
I should say that the _Shunqār_ Falcon has naturally a docile and
fearless disposition. At the moment I write (_i.e._, in the year of
the Flight, 1285),[167] the bird I have described has been in my
possession just two years. During this period she has twice moulted.
This year, I rejoice to say, she was “full summed”[168] quite three
months earlier than last.
SUFFERS FROM HEAT.—Though kept on a damp bed of pebbles and sand,
in the _Bāg͟h-i Raz-kanda_, in the cool region of _Shimrānāt_,[169]
she yet feels the heat greatly, so that even in this cool climate of
_Shimrān_ she has to be well supplied with ice and snow, both of which
she swallows freely.
HAGGARD TIERCEL.—This year—it being the Spring of A.H. 1286—owing
to the high fortune of His Majesty (sacrificed be our souls for
him!), and the kindly aid of Heaven, the royal trappers have snared a
“tiercel” of this species. It was caught in the district of _K͟hār_
and _Varamīn_,[170] and is a fully moulted “haggard.”[171] It is now,
in the beginning of this Spring, something less than two months since
it first came into my hands; and I have now placed it in the mew. I
have taken with it both purple[172] and common heron. This “tiercel”
is a stout and heavy bird about as large as a female saker. Its flight
is lofty and swift; its nature noble and generous. I have now set it
down to moult and am anxious as to the result.
Of the _Shunqār_ it is fabled that when flown at a flock[173] of
cranes it does not act like ordinary falcons and single out and kill a
solitary individual; that its lofty and imperious nature permits it to
cease from slaughter only when every crane in the flock is a carcass
on the ground. Now this is a superlative falsehood. My _shunqār_, like
other hawks, kills only one. It has, indeed, chanced to me that, when
flying a passage saker at a flock of cranes, the falcon, stooping from
a height and dealing a crane a deadly blow, has then shot upwards by
its impetus, and finding itself close to a second bird, has seized
the unexpected opportunity, and “bound”[174] to the second crane’s
head and so added a second victim to the bag. Once indeed I saw three
cranes killed in this manner by a single hawk. Such occurrences are,
however, lucky accidents. No hawk that I ever knew _systematically_
acted in this manner.[175]
It is also commonly believed that the _Shunqār_ is the acknowledged
sovereign of the hawk tribe, and that should one be placed in the
mew, every hawk will step down from its perch in token of humble
submission. This, too, is a falsehood, pure and simple,—or else my
young man is not a _shunqār_. At the moment I write I have more than
fifty hawks of various kinds in my mews, but not one of them has ever
left its perch, or honoured this sovereign, or shown respect in any
manner of way. What is more, my fine gentleman the _Shunqār_ stands
very much in awe of eagles. Of course I am assuming that this hawk
_is_ a “_shunqār_;” equally of course I may be mistaken. All I know
is that neither have I, nor has the oldest falconer in Persia, ever
seen a falcon like it. The manner it stoops and recovers[176] is
unequalled, either by the Shahin or the Saker. I have several times
flown it at common crane with a good _shāhīn_[177] trained to this
flight, and it has always reached the quarry and bound to it before
the latter came up.[178] Every one says it is a _shunqār_. I say so,
too. Of the “’tis” and the “’tisn’t” of the case, God alone is the
Judge.
FOOTNOTES:
[148] _Vide_ chapter XXV, page 69 for method of training for fowling
purposes. I heard of the raven being thus trained and used as a “lure”
for charg͟hs, in Baghdad, Baṣrah, and Muhammara.
[149] _Dashtistān_ of _Fārs_; a warm region fringing the west of the
Persian Gulf: Bushire is nearly the centre of its coast line.
[150] _Kirmānshāh_ is a district about 250 miles north of _Baṣrah_
(Bussora): its capital is said to be locally called _Kirmānshāhān_.
[151] _Shunqār._ In old Persian MSS. on falconry, this disputed name
is undoubtedly applied to a Jerfalcon, a species of which is said to
exist in Northern Asia. The following is a footnote from _Falconry in
the British Isles_:—
“We have been informed by travellers that some few _large white
falcons_, which must be Greenland falcons, are caught annually on
their passing over the Caspian Sea and that they are highly prized by
the falconers of Syria and Persia.”
The late Sirdar Sher ʿAli Khan, the exiled Wālī of Kandahar, told the
translator that he kept _shunqārs_ in Afghanistan, and that he once
had one that was pure white. Jerdon, quoting Pallas, states that it
is the Baschkir Tartar name of the Jerfalcon. Also in Courteille’s
_Dictionnaire Turk-Oriental_ we find:—“_Shūnqār, faucon, proprement
le gerfaut._” Dr. Scully, however, in his Turki vocabulary of
birds states that _shunqār_ is the name of _Falco Hendersoni_, and
_ītālgū_ of its female. If the coloured illustration of F. Hendersoni
(supposed by its describer to be identical with the _shunqār_) that
was published in the account of the Government Mission to Yarkand be
a correct representation of the original, then no falconer, however
experienced, can discriminate between F. Hendersoni and many old
_charg͟hs_ (F. Cherrug or F. Sacer) caught annually in the Panjab.
Further, the Turks of Persia call the charg͟h _Ītālgū_, _Aitalgu_, etc.
[152] A.D. 1867.
[153] _Qūsh-k͟hāna._
[154] The average length of some living specimens of the female
immature saker measured by the translator was 22 inches. The average
weight of young passage sakers, caught in the Panjab in October, is 2
lbs. 5 oz. Haggards very seldom exceed 2 lbs. 10 oz. An exceptionally
fine _charg͟h_ in the translator’s possession in 1892 weighed, when
in flying condition, 2 lbs. 13½ oz.; while a second bird received in
April, 1897, weighed 3 lbs. when fattened up for the moult. Both these
last were young passage hawks. All weights were taken with the crop
and stomach empty.
[155] _Sāq_, _vide_ note 138 on page 33.
[156] _Rān._
[157] _Qara-qūsh._
[158] _Vide_ page 31.
[159] An unconscious exaggeration on the author’s part. A mounted
falconer, who will carry for six or seven hours at a stretch, without
complaint, a hawk that weighs 2½ lbs., will tire at the end of an
hour if this weight is exceeded by half a pound or even less. At such
moments it is difficult to avoid forming an exaggerated estimate of
the burden.
[160] “‘Mew;’ the place where hawks are set down to moult.... Mew,
_v._ to moult, from the Fr. _muer_, to change the feathers.”—_Harting._
[161] _Vide_ Chapter on training the newly caught “passage” Saker
Falcon. Neither English nor Indian falconers attempt to make hawks
recognize their names. As, however, hawks are naturally very
intelligent and can easily be trained to come to any distinct call,
there would probably be no great difficulty in the matter. The idea
seems novel.
[162] “‘Creance,’ _s._, Fr. _créance_, Lat. _credentia_, a long line
attached to the swivel, and used when ‘calling off’; flying a hawk as
it were on credit....”—_Harting._
[163] For a straight short flight, Oriental falconers are generally
agreed that the Sparrow-Hawk is one of “the swiftest birds that fly.”
[164] _Māhūr_, prop. “up and down land” (whether sand hills or hard
ground).
[165] _Qum_ is about eighty miles south of Teheran.
[166] _Pul-i Dallāk_ or “Barber’s Bridge” is N.E. of and close to
_Qum_: it spans the _Qara-sū_ or _Qara-chay_.
[167] A.D. 1868.
[168] “A hawk is said to be ‘summed’ or ‘full summed’ when, after
moulting, she has got all her new feathers and is fit to be taken out
of the mew.”—_Harting._
[169] _Shimrānāt_, a name given to the summer-quarters in the hills,
near Teheran.
[170] _K͟hār_ is a plain in _ʿIrāq-i ʿAjamī_, some thirty miles east
of Teheran and separated from _Varamīn_ by hills.
[171] “‘Haggard,’ a hawk that has been caught after assuming its adult
plumage, that is, after having moulted in a wild state.”—_Harting._
[172] _Jarda._ I believe this is the purple heron.
[173] Under “the compaynys of beeftys and Fowlys” in the _Boke of St.
Albans_ we learn that it is correct to speak of “an Herde of Cranys”
or of “swannys” but a “Gagle of Gees” or of “women.”
[174] “‘Bind,’ to fasten to the quarry in the air.”—_Harting._
[175] It is, of course, not the habit of wild hawks to kill more than
one bird at a time. Major C. H. Fisher, commenting on this fact,
writes (p. 140): “Nevertheless I have seen it done more than once by a
wild falcon, and many times by my own trained birds—in the case of the
wild falcon from having at her first stoop struck down her prey too
close to a man; from over-keenness, I think, by the tame hawk.”
[176] In this quality of shooting up and preparing for a second stoop
the Saker excels the Peregrine. The stoop, however, of the Saker is
not as quick and sudden as the Peregrine’s.
CHAPTER XVII
THE _SHĀHĪN_[179]
This species is very widely distributed. It is divided into three
varieties—namely, the dark, the light and the yellow.
[Illustration: VII
INTERMEWED PEREGRINE]
The best _shāhīns_ are procured from three districts: from _Urūm_[180]
in Ottoman territory, from _Ardabīl_[181] in Persia, and from the
hills of _Shammar_[182] in Arabia on the road to the holy city of
Mecca.
The _Urūm_ shahin is particularly common in _Sīvās_,[183] which
place may be described as the “mine” of this variety. My private
opinion, however, is that this, the shahin of _Urūm_, is not a shahin
at all, but the young of the Peregrine; _i.e._, when snared it is
a “peregrine,” when taken from the nest a “shahin.” My reason for
forming this opinion is that I happened one Spring to be in Sīvās
and called on the Governor. At my request he gave me a guide, who
conducted me to a spot about two _farsak͟h_ from the city, where
there was a shahin’s eyrie in the hill-side. I sat down to observe
it. My patience was soon rewarded by the appearance of the parent
birds, bringing food for their young. I observed the birds closely,
and discovered that they were not shahins but peregrines. This
strengthened my previous supposition that confusion existed between
the nestling and the passage hawk of the same species.
On another occasion I met a _shikārchī_[184] in Sīvās, with a
peregrine on his fist. “What have you there,” I asked, “and what does
it kill?” His reply was, “This is a shahin, which I took myself from
the nest, and which I have trained to take eagles.” I accompanied
him to his house, where he showed me ten or fifteen live eagles with
clipped wings, which he kept loose near the house. It appeared that
they had all been taken with the falcon then on his fist. I was seized
with a desire to possess her, and offered him a large price; but he
declined to part with his treasure.
THE _Shāhīn_ OF _Jabal Shammar_.—Although the shahin from the
mountains of _Shammar_ is small, the female not exceeding in size the
male of the other two species, still it is swift, bold, and easily
entered to quarry, small or great. One eyrie, known by the name
_Jarāza_, is especially famous; eyesses obtained from it are better
and bolder than all others.
[Illustration: VIII
YOUNG PEREGRINE (INDIAN HOOD)]
Though the passage shahin has more pace and a better wind than the
eyess, it is far less tractable, for it has preyed for itself in the
jungle, and is filled with overweening pride of its powers of flight.
Say you have, with infinite pains, succeeded in training one to large
quarry, and have unhooded her at a common crane or a heron, and that
suddenly, beneath her, she spies a wild duck, or a pigeon, or some
other small quarry. What does she do? She “checks,” forsaking the
large quarry for the small, and fills you with bitter disappointment.
Now an eyess shahin will not act in this scurvy manner.
Supposing a passage falcon, shahin or peregrine, comes into your
possession and you have no choice but to enter her to large quarry,
you should blind her in the left eye, for when her right eye is on
the quarry she has no spare eye to cast elsewhere, and her whole
attention is necessarily occupied with the quarry at which she has
been unhooded. This is in accordance with the saying of the poet:—
“My left eye I will darken to the light,[185]
So that I view thee only with my right.”
I have successfully made the experiment and speak from experience.
Should you, however, wish to keep her for small quarry, on no account
blind her. For small quarry you will find her better than the eyess:
she will ring up better, especially after Royston Crows[186] and those
blackguardly _yāplāq_ owls.[187]
As remarked previously, the passage shahin and the peregrine are one
and the same, with this difference, that the peregrine is stronger and
larger. The courage of the peregrine, too, is greater than that of the
passage shahin.
_Rūmalī_[188] eyess shahins are bolder than all others—especially the
dark variety.
FOOTNOTES:
[177] It must be recollected that the term _shāhīn_ includes the
peregrine.
[178] Good evidence, but not proof, since there is nothing to show
that the “shāhīn” was flying its fastest, or that the condition of
both birds was the same. _Vide_ also note 236, page 56.
[179] Blanford (_Eastern Persia_, vol. II., page 103), writes:—“Persian
falconers distinguished three varieties of Shahin, the Stambulī,
Karabāghī and Fārsī, the first from Western Asia Minor, the second from
Circassia, Georgia and Armenia, and the third from Southern Persia. The
first has the darkest plumage, the last the lightest.... The Shahin is,
however, not so much used in Persia as formerly; indeed, I have never
seen it out of the royal mews, except when brought to Bushire, for sale
to the Arabs of the opposite coast. The falcon described by Marco Polo
as found in the mountains of Paríz near Karmán, can be no other than
the _Sháhín_. The old traveller says, ‘In the mountains of Paríz near
Karmán are found the best falcons in the world. They are inferior in
size to the peregrine, red on the breast, under the neck and between
the thighs; their flight is so swift that no bird can escape them’.”
Considerable confusion exists as to the term _Shāhīn_. Arab falconers
in the Persian Gulf and the Persians of Bushire call the female
peregrine _shāhīna_, and rarely _baḥrīya_. The _Shayk͟hs_ of _Baḥrayn_
Island procure peregrines from Bushire. The _shāhīn_ (but not the
peregrine) seems to be unknown in Baṣrah and Bag͟hdād. An Arabic
MS. composed in the tenth century says, “If you desire to possess a
_shāhīn_, then procure one of the peregrine (_baḥrī_) kind, especially
if it be black-backed, ugly-faced, narrow-bodied, short-tailed,
large-headed, sunken-eyed, piercing-eyed, large-beaked, deep-mouthed,
short-backed, with long flight-feathers, and wings far apart from
the body.” The peregrine (_baḥrī_) is unknown to the falconers of
Kirman except by name. The _shāhīn_, however, is not uncommon in the
district. The translator, who was for eighteen months in Kirman, found
three nests of the _shāhīn_ and one of the _charg͟h_. The shāhīns of
_Pārīz_ are, however, no longer famous.
[180] Is this meant for Erzerum?
[181] _Ardabīl_ is East of _Tabrīz_ and almost on the Caspian. It is a
convict station.
[182] _Shammar_ is a hilly district in Central Arabia.
[183] _Sīvās._ Is this the town in Asia Minor on the river Kizl Irmak
and south of Trebizond?
[184] _Shikārchī_ is the Turkish equivalent of the Hindustani
_shikārī_. These words do not necessarily refer to professionals.
[185] In Persian, “to regard with the left eye” is an idiom for “to
gaze at with contempt; to regard as an enemy.”
[186] _Kulāg͟h-i ablaq_, _lit._ “the piebald crow,” is the Royston
Crow or a species exactly like it; it is common round Baghdad and in
Persia. (The English magpie is also common in Persia and may locally
be so named.)—_Vide_ page 55, note 227.
[187] _Yāplāg͟h-i pidar-sag_, “the dog-fathered _yāplāq_,” is perhaps
the Indian grass-owl or a species like it. The Author also calls
another species, probably the Short-eared Owl, _yāplāg͟h_, but omits
the epithet “son of a dog” when mentioning it. The former is a
difficult quarry, the latter an easy one.—_Vide_ note 2, page 23.
[188] Apparently an adjective from _Urūm_.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE PEREGRINE (_BAḤRĪ_)
_Baḥrī._—I have already stated my opinion that the Peregrine is merely
the _Rūmalī Shāhīn_ caught after it has left the nest.
At any rate the best variety of peregrine is the yellowish,
almond[189]-coloured, variety.
I have trained peregrines[190] to gazelle. They are, however,
delicate[191] birds, as well as bold and daring: they dash themselves
impetuously against the gazelle’s horns and thus frequently injure
themselves fatally. This is the reason that falconers do not care to
train them to gazelle. Further, on account of the flightiness[192] of
their disposition they are not so very highly prized. When choosing a
peregrine, select one with large feet, short legs, and long slender
wings. Count the scales on the middle toe. Ordinarily there are only
seventeen or eighteen.[193] If you find a bird with twenty-one, you
have a treasure. A good peregrine should have a fine full breast, a
broad back, and toes that are long and lean; and its body should be
round and compact. An old master has not without reason sung:—
If I could have my fancy free,
Goshawks like wagtails[194] all should be,
And Sparrow-hawks like Goshawks all;
But _Shāhīns_ round and _Charg͟hs_ tall.[195]
Should _Baḥrīs_ too from faults be free,
In truth broad-shouldered they must be.
FOOTNOTES:
[189] _i.e._, the colour of the _skin_ of an almond. The yellow
variety of peregrine is avoided by Panjab falconers.
[190] The only Englishman who attempted gazelle hawking in India
was the late Sir Harry Lumsden who raised the Corps of Guides. He
told the translator that the Amir used to send him from Kabul, at
the beginning of the cold weather, trained hawks and greyhounds,
as well as falconers. In an article in the _Badminton Magazine_ on
Sir Harry Lumsden’s gazelle hawks, there is an illustration of a
peregrine striking at a gazelle. This is an error. Sir Harry used only
_charg͟hs_ for gazelle.
[191] Delicate compared to the saker, the falcon most prized by
Orientals. In Baghdad (in 1900-01) the price of a peregrine had risen
from three to ten rupees, whereas a saker was said to be worth as
much as seventy rupees. In the Panjab, sakers range from Rs. 3 to Rs.
7. The Saker is, by most Easterns, preferred to the Peregrine, as it
is hardier and can, to a certain extent, be fed on butcher’s meat,
and still work well; whereas it is impossible to keep a peregrine in
first-class condition without a constant supply of doves and pigeons,
or birds whose flesh is equally good. Further, in the desert, the
crops are scanty, and in consequence the houbara cannot always be
marked down in their feeding grounds, but have to be laboriously
beaten for by a long line of mounted men in open order; even a _young_
saker will sit barefaced on the rider’s fist without bating, but
keeping a sharp look out for the quarry, which, by running round the
line or dodging through the intervals, may escape the keen sight of
the beaters, but not the keener sight of the falcon.
[192] Hence the epithet _yäwā_ applied to it and to the shahin, in the
Kapurthala State.
[193] That is there are, in the female peregrine, seventeen or
eighteen large scutæ (_pūlak_) that extend across the whole breadth
of the toe. These scutæ vary greatly in size, and their number is no
guide to the length of the toe: a hawk with a large number may have a
short toe.
[194] _Ṣaʿwa._ I believe this is properly a wagtail, but the term
is by some Turks also applied to a species of sparrow. Miyān Mahmūd
Sāhibzāda, of Taunsa, a Muslim friend of mine, and a keen and
successful falconer of considerable experience, is of opinion that
though a goshawk should be long, it should have a short tail and a
short tarsus. As a matter of course the hawk should be heavy and
well furnished, the flesh being hard, not soft. “Never,” said this
authority, “buy a camel, a horse, or a goshawk, with a short neck. A
long neck is a sign of staying power and vigour.” The present Nawāb
of Teri says that, in his experience, goshawks with sharp clean claws
are inferior to those with worn and blunted nails, and this experience
is confirmed by other Panjab falconers. Blunt and worn nails probably
indicate that a hawk is keen and persevering; that after it “puts in”
the partridge, it runs round and round the cover on foot and does not
give up the chase. Indians, or rather Panjabis, object to light eyes
in a goshawk. “...; the worst you can say by an hawke for their shape
is, that shee is a long slender and beesome-tailed hawke.”—_Bert._
“In yo^r choice observe when yo buy, a larg beake, a larg foote,
a short train, an upright stande, and all of a peece.”—_Harting_
(quoting a MS. in the British Museum): _vide_ page ix, Introduction,
_Booke for Keping of Sparchawkes_. In the latter work the “Tokens
of a Good Hawke” are: “Large: heade slender: beake thick and greate
like a parot: seare sayre: nares wyde: stalke short and bygg: foote
large, wyde, and full of strengeth: mail thick: wynges large w^t narow
fethers: heye of fleshe and euer disposed to feede egerly.”
[195] Many Panjab falconers assert that long charg͟hs are faster and
stoop in better style. They are certainly not inferior to the shorter
birds.
CHAPTER XIX
THE SAKER[196] FALCON (_F. Cherrug_)
[The author now mentions fourteen races and varieties of
_bālābān_,[197] each of which he distinguishes by some special
epithet.
_Kabīdī_ (?).—The first race or variety described is apparently named
_kabīdī_:[199]]—It has a white head, without any cheek-stripe or dark
mark under the eyes.[200] With this exception the colouration is dark:
the feathers of both the body and the tail[201] are without spots. It
is large in size and bold in nature, and good for either crane[202] or
gazelle, but, alas, it is scarce. In the whole of my experience I have
met with only one.
_Bālābān-i Fārsī._—Next is the _Bālābān-i Fārsī_, or “Saker of Fārs,”
which is subdivided into the red and the white varieties. Neither has
cheek stripes. The back, from the neck to the oil-bottle,[203] is
covered with spots and markings, and the redder these are in tint, the
better the bird. The flight-feathers,[204] seven in each wing, are
also covered with spots. The feet are a very light slate-colour. The
darker and smaller the beak, tongue, and nails, the better. The feet
are lean, the tarsi short, the thighs stout, the chest and back broad,
the wings fine and pointed, the eyes sunken, the eyebrows prominent;
the neck is long, the forehead broad, the “waist” small. If the hawk
has all these points, it is incomparable.
[Illustration: IX
YOUNG PASSAGE SAKER (DARK VARIETY)]
_Bālābān-i Aḥmar-i Shām._—Next is the _Bālābān-i aḥmar-i Shām_
or the “Red Syrian Saker,” of which there are two varieties, the
red and the black. In a good bird of this race, the two centre
tail-feathers, called by the Arabs _ʿamūd_ or “props,” and by the
Turks _qāpāq_,[205] as well as the two outer tail-feathers, one on
each side,[206] should be without spot or marking.
_Bālābān-i Badrī._—The next race is called _badrī_.[207] It has a
white head and no cheek stripe. The general colouration is reddish,
and the back and breast are without markings. The two centre
tail-feathers are sometimes with spots and sometimes without: if with
spots the smaller and redder they are the better.
These four races or varieties are by the Arabs styled _ḥurr ṣāfī_.[208]
_Badū-pasand_ (?).—[A variety of the _Badrī_ has a name[209] that
cannot be deciphered with certainty.] This is a variety of the
_Badrī_, but the whole of the tail is white without the admixture of
any other colouring. It is uncommon, and though it belongs to the
class of _ḥurr_,[208] it is poor-spirited and not prized.
_Jibālī._—The next race is the Mountain[210] (?) Saker. It has a
little black only, under the eye. It has on the back, two, four, or
six white spots, called by the Arabs Pleiades (_Thurayyā_). The “prop”
feathers have sometimes spots and sometimes none. In any case it is
not styled by the Arabs _ḥurr ṣāfī_, for the _ḥurr ṣāfī_ must not only
be without cheek stripes, but must also have certain other points.
The first four described are, however, all included in the _ḥurr
ṣāfī_. According to the idiom of Arab falconers, the _ḥurr ṣāfī_ must
have the back “free from Pleiades,”[211] the “prop” feathers “clear of
marks,”[212] and the two outside feathers (one on each side) “void of
stain.”[213] Also it must have no cheek stripe, nor black under the
eyes. Should the hawk not have these points, they class it as _jibālī_
and not as _ḥurr ṣāfī_.
[Illustration: X
YOUNG PASSAGE SAKER (DARK VARIETY)]
_Bālābān-i Lafīf._—Next is the _bālābān-i lafīf_,[214] and of this
there are three varieties, the yellowish, the dark, and the light. All
three have cheek-stripes or dark feathers under the eyes. As in the
case of the eyess _chark͟h_, if this race is taken from the nest it is
called in Turki _aitālgī_, in Arabic _wacharī_,[215] and in Persian
_chark͟h_. Should it have left the nest and be caught in a net, it is
called (in Persian) _bālābān-i lafīf_.
Now as for those four races described above as _ḥurr ṣāfī_, I have in
my many travels and constant inquiries never met with any hawk-catcher
or sportsman[216] who has taken a _ḥurr ṣāfī_ from the nest. No one
even knows in what country, birds of this race breed. All I know for
certain is, that in the beginning of Autumn they come to us from
across the sea, from the direction of Muscat and Baḥrayn.[217] God
knows where they breed and whence they travel. Those that I have seen
in Persia, Turkey,[218] and Europe[219] have all been _lafīf_ and have
all had cheek stripes.
The _lafīf_ is to the _ḥurr ṣāfī_ what the _t̤arlān_ is to the
_qizil_, or what the Nejd[220] horse is to the Turkoman pony.[221]
Moult after moult the _ḥurr ṣāfī_ becomes better, whereas the _lafīf_
flies well for not more than three seasons: after that it becomes
cunning.[222] I have at present two _bālābān_ of the _ḥurr ṣāfī_
race, one of sixteen and one of seventeen moults; one is “Persian”
and the other “Red Syrian.”[223] Both are still excellent at common
crane.[224] Birds of this race, while life lasts, year by year
improve, for their nature is noble.
THE BĀLĀBĀN-I LAFĪF OF BAGHDAD.—A variety of the _Lafīf_ that I have
met with nowhere except in Baghdad, is called by Baghdad falconers
_Wacharī_.[225] In general colouring, it is dark with a tinge of
red on the head. The flight-feathers are dark in colour and long,
extending beyond the tail. It has small feet and the female is about
the same size as the tiercel of the eyess _chark͟h_.[226] It is very
swift, nearly as swift as the _shāhīn_. It takes the small piebald
crow,[227] black partridge,[228] and stone-plover, with ease. Some few
I have seen that would take houbara.
It has a great outward resemblance to the Hobby which is found round
Teheran.
FOOTNOTES:
[196] _Ṣaqar_ (sometimes pronounced _ṣagar_ or _ṣag͟har_) is one of
the names by which this falcon (_F. Sacer_ of Jerdon and _F. cherrug_
of Blanford) is known to the Arabs. Possibly the word _ṣaqar_ is by
Arabs applied to other falcons also.
[197] Considerable confusion exists with regard to the various names
of this falcon. By Indians this species is called _charg͟h_, by
Afghans _chark͟h_. By Persians the passage falcon is styled _bālābān_
and the eyess _chark͟h_, while by the Turks of Persia the passage
falcon and the eyess are often both called _aitālgī_. The Author,
however, himself a Turk, states that the nestling of a particular
variety is by Turkish falconers distinguished by the name _aitālgī_.
In _Lahore to Yarkand_, a report on some of the scientific results of
the expedition to Yarkand in 1870, there is a coloured figure of an
old and not uncommon variety of the Saker, to which the scientific
name of _Falco Hendersoni_ is appended; and it is stated that Mr.
Hume considered this falcon to be the _Shunqār_ of Eastern falconers.
Apparently following up this idea, Scully, in his vocabulary of the
Turki names of birds, gives as the equivalent of the Turki _aitalgū_,
“the female of the ‘_shunqār_,’ _Falco Hendersoni_.” There is,
however, evidence to show that, in ancient times, _Shunqār_ was a
name given by Indian falconers to a species of Jerfalcon, _vide_ page
36, note 151. Modern Indian falconers, proverbial for inaccuracy, have
a habit of calling any Saker (_charg͟h_) that is unusual in size
and markings a “_shunqār_,” and so, by exciting emulation, obtain
a fictitious price from some credulous native gentleman. Though
seemingly only one species of _charg͟h_ visits the Panjab, individuals
so vary in size, shape, markings, and colouration, that it is at
first sight difficult to believe that they are of the same species.
Amongst young birds some are whole-coloured, others have some small
white specks on the back, while others again have white heads with
spotted tails. In some varieties the tail spots are barely visible;
in others they are so white and numerous that the spread tail appears
to be nearly all white. Peculiarities may disappear to a great extent
in the first moult. The colouring of the “intermewed”[198] falcon
depends, to a great extent, on feeding and exposure. “Haggards”
vary, nearly, if not quite, as much as the immature hawks. A rare
variety is said, by Panjabī falconers and others, to have the tarsus
feathered “like certain breeds of pigeons.” In the Derajat this
variety is distinguished by the term _pā-moz_ or “booted,” while in
the Pindi Gheb district it is considered a distinct species and called
_Sang-sang_. The evidence of the existence of this peculiar variety
(which is also supposed to be above the average in size) is detailed
and corroborative. Arab falconers of _Baṣrah_ have described this
variety to the translator, and stated that it is known to them by the
name of _Shung͟hār_. By the name _Sang-sang_ some species of falcon
(probably a _chark͟h_) is known to the Afghans. The Charg͟h breeds
in Afghanistan, Persia, and elsewhere, but not in India. Apparently
more than one race visits India. In the Panjab it is flown only at
large quarry—kite, hare, houbara, and occasionally at black ibis and
common heron. In Baghdad it is said to be flown at geese. Corballis,
in _Forty-five Years of Sport_, says, “This falcon is good at smaller
game, such as grouse, partridges, etc.” Apparently he is speaking of
Syria. The Saker is too slow for sand-grouse in ordinary circumstances.
[198] “‘Intermewed.’ A hawk that has been moulted in
confinement.”—_Lascelles._
[199] This word is perhaps a copyist’s error.
[200] _Madmaʿ_ Ar. sing. “The place where the tears collect in the
sides of the eye”; the pl. _madāmiʿ_ comprises the inner and outer
angles of the eyes, but is especially applied to the inner. _Vide_
note 49, page 8.
[201] In India a hawk with a tail without marks is called _lagaṛ-dum_,
or “tailed like the Lagar Falcon.”
[202] In Dresser’s _Birds of Europe_ it is stated that Jerdon once
took a _Sārus_ crane (_Grus Antigone_) with a Saker.
[203] _Mudhun_ A. and _rūg͟han-dān_ P.
[204] _Shāh-par_, “flight-feather.”
[205] _Qāpāq_; derivation unknown.
[206] These two feathers are apparently called by the Arabs _rudāfạ_.
This word is the plural of _radīf_ which literally signifies “to ride
pillion.” In m. c. it is the name given by Persians and Turks to the
“Army Reserve.” _Vide_ also page 73, note 305.
[207] Possibly from _badr_, “the full moon.”
[208] _Ḥurr_ Ar. “free-born”; hence “noble.” The Saker and Goshawk are
styled _ḥurr_, and also the young of certain animals. _Ṣāfī_, “pure,
unmixed, etc.”
[209] Apparently _Badū-pasand_, “liked by the Bedouins.”
[210] _Jibālī_, adj. from _jibāl_ “mountains,” plural of _jabal_.
[211] _Sālim^u S̤urayyā._
[212] _Mut̤laq^u ’l-ʿamūd._
[213] _Māṣiḥ rudāfạ._
[214] _Lafīf_: meaning of _lafīf_ obscure.
[215] There is no letter _ch_ in Arabic. In ʿIrāq, however, _k_ is
sometimes pronounced _ch_. _Wakr_ (_wachr_) in Arabic is a nest, so
“_wachrī_” _might_ signify “nestling.” An Arab gentleman in _Baṣrah_
(a falconer) told me that the white Saker with drops on the back is
called _Ḥurr Ṣāfī_; the same if of a reddish tinge _Ḥurr Shāmī_; and
that these races are supposed to come from “Persia” and “Syria.”
The dark Saker with drops on the back is, he said, called _Wacharī
Jarūdī_, and without drops _Wacharī_. The best for gazelle, he stated,
was the “Persian” and “Syrian.” The Baghdad Sakers are preferred to
those of Baṣrah. Sakers are caught in Bushire and taken for sale to
Baṣrah, where they fetch as much as seventy rupees. In the Panjab
their price varies from three to ten rupees, according to locality and
season.
[216] _Shikārchī_, a comprehensive term; “sportsman, fisherman,
bird-catcher, etc., etc.”
[217] The Sheikh of _Baḥrayn_ keeps many sakers and peregrines which
are flown at houbara on the opposite Persian Coast. The translator
once travelled with the Sheikh’s two sons in a B. I. boat: they had
fifty or sixty falconers and as many peregrines and sakers, all, with
one exception, young and newly trained.
[218] By Turkey, the Author probably means Asia Minor.
[219] Probably Turkey in Europe.
[220] The best bred Arab horses are from Nejd.
[221] _Yābū_, a pony of a coarse breed.
[222] _Duzd_, _lit._ “a thief.”
CHAPTER XX
THE EYESS SAKER FALCON
The eyess _chark͟h_[229] is of four kinds. First there is the variety
that in the Spring[230] months breeds in the hills of Persia and
Turkey.[231]
Another is found in Nejd[232] in Turkish territory, where it lays its
eggs on the bare ground, like the black-breasted sand-grouse,[233] and
the houbara bustard. This variety is called _chark͟h-i māniʿī_.[234]
Another kind nests in the hills and dry water-courses of Nejd.
From thence nestlings are obtained by the Arabs who style them
_Ḥijāzī_.[235]
All these kinds, if obtained from the nest, are _chark͟h_, and if
snared after they have left the nest are _lafīf_.
The _chark͟h-i māniʿī_ is exceptionally good, whether for gazelle, or
common crane, or golden eagle: you can train it to anything. I am able
to state that it is faster even than the _shāhīn_, for I have often
flown one at crane in company with a _shāhīn_, and it has reached and
“bound” to the crane a long way ahead of it.[236]
The colouration of the _māniʿī_ varies, but that variety that has very
red markings on the back, like a kestril,[237] is the best. Of all the
_chark͟hs_ of the world the _māniʿī_ with red spots on the back is the
best. Although it is an eyess (_chark͟h_) and is obtained from the
nest, it is equal to any noble passage falcon (_bālābān_) of the _ḥurr
ṣāfī_ race. It is to be obtained only from the Arabs of _Unayza_.[238]
In that waterless part of _ʿArabistān_ its chief prey is houbara and
hare.[239]
FOOTNOTES:
[223] _Fārsī_ and _Aḥmar Shāmī_.
[224] The common crane is, in the air, an easier quarry than the
heron. The struggle on the ground is, however, severe and highly
dangerous, as the crane uses its sharp claw with great effect.
[225] _Vide_ page 54, note 215.
[226] Some Indian and Persian falconers I questioned in Baghdad had
never met with a falcon that answered this description. The _Lagaṛ_
falcon (_F. Jugger_) of India—a desert falcon—does not answer to the
description. Also it does not appear to be found in Persia or Asia
Minor.
[227] _Kulāg͟h-i kūchak u ablaq_, presumably “the hooded crow,” common
around Baghdad and in Persia. The author probably styles it “small”
as compared to the raven, which is sometimes called by the same name.
_Vide_ page 46, note 186.
[228] _Durrāj_, “the francolin.”
[229] _Chark͟h_ is the eyess saker, and _bālābān_ the passage saker.
[230] There are four distinct seasons of the year, in Persia. The
Spring, unlike the Indian Spring, is long and cool. The Saker falcon
migrates from the Panjab much earlier than the peregrine.
[231] _i.e._, Turkish territory.
[232] Nejd, in central Arabia, directly west of Baḥrayn Island.
[233] _Bāqir-qara_ T. and _Siyāh-sīnah_ P.: both words signify
literally “black breast.” The Arab gentleman mentioned in note 215, page
54, informed me that in certain localities the saker nests on the
bare ground. _Vide_ also page 115, note 491. An Englishman told me that
he once, in Wales, found two peregrine’s eggs laid on the bare open
ground close to a cliff edge.
[234] Has _māniʿī_ here the signification of “difficult of access”?
[235] _Ḥijāz_, a province on the Red Sea. It is not in Nejd.
[236] This is no sure test of swiftness, for a peregrine flown with a
large and powerful saker often flies “cunning.” _Vide_ note 178, page
42.
[237] I have known a saker that in the immature plumage was white and
covered with spots (such a saker is styled in the Kapurthala State
_chītal charg͟h_ and is there considered useless for anything except
hare) assume this red kestril-like plumage on its first moult.
[238] _Unayza_, name of a tribe and of a place in West Nejd. The
tribe is famous for a breed of horses, larger and coarser than the
Nejd breed. The name is said to be the diminutive of either _anza_, a
“she-goat” or of _anaza_, a “javelin.”
[239] All sakers in a wild state occasionally prey on houbara. Trained
haggards, but not young passage hawks, will as a rule take hare
without being entered by a “train.” Perhaps during the nesting season,
the parent birds are driven to killing hare. I have seen a young
passage hawk of mine, flying close to the ground, carry a hare for
two or three hundred yards. The hare, a fine hill specimen, weighed
4½ lbs., while the saker weighed only 2 lbs. 4 oz. I have seen an
“intermewed” saker stoop at, and strike, a large hare on the head,
with such force that the hare never moved again. In Dresser’s _Birds
of Europe_ it is stated on the authority of Colonel Przevalsky that in
Mongolia, in Winter, the chief food of the saker is the Alpine hare.
CHAPTER XXI
STRANGE ARAB DEVICES FOR CATCHING THE PASSAGE SAKER
The Arabs have two strange devices for catching the _bālābān_. It
chances sometimes that, while out hawking, a wild _bālābān_ will
suddenly drop from the sky, and seize a flushed houbara. The Arabs
wait till the falcon has broken into the quarry and has begun to eat.
Then they go slowly towards the falcon, which, unable to carry off
the heavy quarry, perforce abandons it: the falcon will retire to a
distance of five- or six-hundred yards and regard her quarry with eyes
of regret. Two _shikār-chīs_ go up to the dead houbara and quickly and
deftly dig a pit in the sand with their sticks. One of them stealthily
gets into this pit and is completely covered with sand, his nose only
being above ground. One arm is extended, but concealed by a light
sprinkling of sand. The dead houbara is then placed on his open palm
and the other men all withdraw to a distance. After a short time, the
_bālābān_, seeing the coast clear, returns without suspicion to its
prey. Poor thing, what knows it of what is underground? Slowly it
returns to its quarry and re-settles on it. That cuckoldy pimp in his
living grave feels the falcon settle; then slowly, very slowly, under
cover of the houbara’s feathers his hand searches for his victim’s
feet. The hapless falcon, in dread of a robber eagle, eagerly busies
itself with pluming and eating: its whole attention is directed to its
food. Sooner or later some part of its foot or leg touches the hidden
hand, and the freedom of the noble bird is gone. The dead man then
comes to life and rises from his sandy grave.[240]
ANOTHER DEVICE.—There is another cunning device, which can be
practised only during the season of the terrible east wind of
Baghdad—“We take refuge in God from it.”[241] This wind blows with
incessant severity for two to nine days at a time. Day and night
it rages, ceasing not for one minute. None dare venture out in it;
everything comes to a standstill. All sorts of wild birds, fearing to
be swept away far from their hunting and feeding grounds, take refuge
from the force of the wind by settling on the ground. Perhaps some
luckless sportsmen, when out hawking, get caught in this wind, and by
chance spy a _bālābān_ seated on the sandy gritty soil. One of the
party will go directly up-wind of it, and raising all the dust and
sand[242] he can with his hands and feet, will scatter it on the wind.
Under cover of this cloud of dust, which is carried by the wind on to
the falcon, he quickly advances, stirring up the while all the sand
he can with his hands and feet. The falcon’s eyes get filled with the
sand: in vain it rubs them on its feathers: the sand-storm continues,
while the man behind it ceases not advancing with rapidity. The falcon
is first forced to close its eyes, but the sand stops up its nostrils,
and it soon has no choice but to seek protection for its head under
its wing. In this unsuspecting and helpless attitude it is secured by
hand.
AUTHOR CAPTURES A VULTURE.—Once I went on a pilgrimage to _Haẓrat-i
Salmān-i Fārsī_,[243] and intending to kill two birds with one stone
took with me four or five _chark͟hs_ and _bālābāns_ that were trained
to gazelle, and nine or ten mounted falconers. I started early in the
morning, and expected to secure during the day five or six gazelles
at least. We had gone about two _farsak͟h_[244] when the east wind
began to rise. It gradually increased in force till about two hours
before noon, by which time we had reached the very “mine”[245] of
gazelle. To the right and left of us there was nothing but gazelle,
but, on account of the wind, it was impossible to fly the hawks. Soon
the air became darkened, and so strong was the wind that it could
have borne aloft a thousand thrones of Solomon.[246] We were nearly
lifted off our horses to be hurled far into the desert. There was
nothing for it but to “mail”[247] the _chark͟hs_ and _bālābāns_ and
carry them under our arms, or in the skirts of our robes. We were now
in ground that is called _Ḥawr Saʿda_[248]: it is low-lying ground,
void of dust or sand, for when the Tigris overflows its banks in the
Spring, the hollow retains water, and grass and reeds spring up. This
hollow was about two _farsak͟h_ broad by six or seven long, and was a
favourite feeding-ground of gazelle. The well-known medicinal herb
galingale[249] is produced here in abundance; hence the name of _Ḥawr
Saʿda_ given to the spot.
Well, as soon as we emerged from this _ḥawr_, we lost sight of the
Arch of Ctsesiphon and the dome of _Haẓrat-i Sulaymān_. Though we knew
the ground thoroughly, having hawked gazelle there hundreds of times,
we completely lost our bearings and wandered about aimlessly and
perplexedly, we knew not whither. At last we emerged on to the sandy
desert, and realized that we had left the shrine of _Sulaymān_ on our
left. Our horses were unable to proceed, for their eyes and nostrils
were soon choked with sand.
Suddenly a huge carrion vulture[250] dropped to earth and settled
before us. I told my attendants to stop still while I circumvented
it by the Arab method. I made a circuit and got up-wind of it, and
assisted the wind in covering it with sand and dust. At last I reached
the vulture and saw that the poor thing had tucked away its head, and
was to all appearance asleep. I cast myself on it and secured it, and
saw that its eyes and nostrils were so choked with sand that it could
scarcely breathe. I made the _Ābdār_[251] carry it till we reached the
shrine. Not having enough food for the hawks, I bought a fat young
sucking-lamb,[252] and killed it. The liver and heart were given to
the vulture, which, when the wind subsided, was duly released.
I could have captured gazelle by the same method had it not been for
their sense of smell.
FOOTNOTES:
[240] An Afghan acquaintance told the translator that he had seen
demoiselle cranes (_k͟har-k͟hare_) caught in the following manner at
Kabul. Small boys were buried in the sand at intervals, their noses
above ground and their arms extended—the arms carefully covered with
sand and shingle. The unsuspecting cranes were then slowly driven
towards the hidden children. Sometimes two or three birds are caught
in this manner. The children are buried on the spot where the cranes
rest at night. In Chitral, goshawks are said to be caught by the
following device: The top of a bare hillock is selected, scooped
out and roofed over, the chamber thus made being sufficiently large
to conceal a man. The trapper enters the chamber from the side,
and closes the entrance. He then puts through a hole in the roof a
live _chukor_ fitted with jesses, and with a leash five or six feet
long. The hole in the roof is closed, and the partridge flutters at
the extent of its leash. When the goshawk appears, the cries of the
_chukor_ warn the trapper. When the goshawk seizes the partridge, it
is slowly drawn towards the hole by the trapper. The hawk, feeling
resistance, only “binds” the tighter, till it is suddenly seized by
the legs from within the hut. The chief places for catching goshawks
near Chitral are said to be the _Singūr_ forest; the _Bakamak_ hill;
the _Makhtāmābād_ hill; and the _Urgutch_ hill. These are the four
_Mihtarī_ places, _i.e._, hawks caught there are the property of the
_Mihtar_.
[241] A common exclamation amongst Muslims; used in time of danger, on
hearing of an accident, and on seeing one afflicted with a horrible
disease such as leprosy.
[242] _Shin va māssa._
[243] _Salmān-i Fārsī_ was a Persian of Abyssinian extraction. He was
one of the “Companions of the Prophet.” His tomb, on a bank of the
Tigris, not far from Baghdad, is close to the old ruined palace of
Kisra, called by the Arabs _Tāq-Kisrạ_ “The arch of Cyrus.” Here, too,
is the site of _Madāʿin_ or “The cities,” the capital of Persia at the
time of the Muslim conquest. Seven cities are said to have existed
on this site, _T̤aysafūn_ or Ctsesiphon being one of them. It was in
the latter that the _Tāq-Kisrạ_ existed, built, according to some
accounts, by Nūshīravān the Just.
[244] A _farsak͟h_ is about 3¾ miles.
[245] “Mine,” an Arab idiom for any place where the game is found in
abundance.
[246] _ʿArsh-i Sulaymān._ The winds were subject to Solomon. His
throne was placed on an immense carpet of green silk, and his forces,
men on the right, _jinn_ on the left, took their stand upon it, and
the wind bore it aloft under Solomon’s orders, while the army of birds
formed a canopy above.
[247] _Qapāncha kardan_, “to mail” a hawk, _i.e._, to wrap it up in
a “sock” or cloth, so that it is in a kind of strait-jacket. Even on
foot it is impossible to carry hawks in a strong desert wind.
[248] _Ḥawr_ is low-lying ground or dried marsh land that is full of
grass and reeds. _Saʿda_ is an adjective from the grass _saʿd-i kūfī_
mentioned later.
[249] _Saʿd-i kūfī_ is a tall sweet-smelling grass used in medicine.
The scientific name is said to be Cyperus Scariosus. The Hindi name
is, I think, _nāgar moth_.
“The dale
Was seen far inland and the yellow down
Border’d with palm, and many a winding vale
And meadow, set with slender galingale.”
—_Lotus Eaters._
[250] _Dāl-i murdār-k͟hwār._
[251] _Abdār_, a servant in charge of the drinks, tea-things, etc. He
would of course be mounted, probably on a mule.
[252] _Barra-yi shīr-mast._
CHAPTER XXII
THE MERLIN
This little falcon is beyond all praise. There are three varieties,
the dark, the light, and the yellow, the first being the best. No
Persian falconer has yet found the nest of the merlin, nor is it known
in what country it breeds. All I know is that, about two months after
the beginning of Autumn, it is spread over the face of the land, and
is then caught in nets by the bird-catchers.
Like the _bālābān_ there are three kinds, the _Ḥurr Ṣāfī_, the _Aḥmar
Shāmī_,[253] and the _Lafīf_. The dark variety, which is the _Lafīf_
and has cheek-stripes,[254] is better than the _Ḥurr Ṣāfī_. Unlike the
Saker, this falcon is somewhat forgetful by nature.
If you want to train a “cast”[255] of merlins to fly larks,[256]
train them quickly, luring them three times or four times a day to a
lure made of pigeons’ wings.[257] Now get a live lark, and for three
days,—after the merlin has been made hot and excited by being called
to the lure—tie the lark to the end of a long stick, and fly the hawk
at that, making it stoop four or five times.[258] Then let the hawk
take, and eat half of the lark. Do this three times a day, flying it
after it has digested its meal.[259]
After the merlins are well entered to the lark at the end of the
stick,[260] go out into the open country. Show them, by hand, a good
lark, unruffled and strong on the wing; then let it fly, casting off
both merlins after it.[261] They will stoop at it and take it. When
they do, feed them up together. Do this for three or four days.
Now go into the open country and fly them at a wild lark, choosing
some spot free from wells or gardens: for, if your hawk chases a lark
into a well, it will probably get destroyed; if it chases it into a
garden, it will not only lose the lark, but lose itself. You require a
clear open plain.
The quicker you train these little falcons the better, but with
other hawks the contrary holds good: in training the latter, use
deliberation.
METHOD OF SNARING LARKS.—I am certain the reader has been saying to
himself, “Where am I to get all these live larks? Surely the author
is wrong somewhere.” No, my friend, it is _you_ that are wrong. Now
listen to me while I tell you how to snare larks.
Get a long, light pole,[262] about eleven feet long, and bind to the
end of it, a horse-hair noose[263] (of white horse-hair for choice)
made of a single hair, and use white thread for the binding.[264] As
soon as your merlin is keen on the lure, go out into the open country
with an assistant. When you come across a lark, give the merlin
to your assistant, and then move aside ten or fifteen paces. Now,
alongside of the lark, lure the merlin to your fist. As soon as the
lark spies the hawk, it will crouch on the ground, its eyes glued on
the hawk. Now hand over the hawk to your assistant. Make him hold his
hand high, and by lowering it and raising it cause the hawk to extend
and flutter its wings, so that the attention of the lark may remain
engrossed on it. Tell your man to go to the left of the lark and to
stand about ten paces from it, making the hawk flutter all the time.
Do you go to its right, and, advancing very slowly, extend the pole,
slip the horse-hair noose on to the poor lark’s neck, and draw it to
you, and—there is your “train.” This device is the invention of your
humble servant. It is most successful in the Autumn and Winter months.
A lark, before a cast of merlins, gives a very pretty ringing flight.
In the Spring, however, and even on warm days in the Winter,[265] they
will not ring up.
A very good female merlin will take “chukor,” “seesee,”[266] quail,
woodcock,[267] and other small quarry.
DEFECT OF MERLINS.—Merlins are inveterate “carriers,”[268] a great
defect in their character, and should therefore be flown as a “cast,”
and not singly. Another defect is that, if allowed to get very hungry,
they begin to tear their own feet; and if the falconer be inattentive,
they will tear away the flesh till they reach the shank bone.[269]
Once they learn this vice, the only remedy is to give them their
freedom. The falconer must therefore be careful to keep them always in
high condition, for otherwise they will not only not “ring up” well,
but will also contract the vice just mentioned.
A good, young, merlin may be kept and moulted, but just as is the
case of a young passage saker and an “intermewed”[270] one, an
intermewed[271] merlin will not ring up as well as a young passage
hawk. The young hawk is light in body, and ignorant as well; but after
the moult it becomes not only heavy, but cunning also, and will give
up the moment it sees that the lark it is chasing is very strong on
the wing. A “haggard” _bālābān_,[272] however, will, in the hands of a
skilful falconer, ring up better than a young passage _bālābān_.
There are two varieties of merlin. In one variety the immature and
mature plumage are, even after many moults, the same. In the other,
the plumage of the back, after the first moult, becomes blue-grey,
while the cere and legs become bright yellow like amber. I have never
been able to discriminate which kind it is that will remain the same,
and which kind will assume the blue plumage and yellow cere.
FOOTNOTES:
[253] _Vide_ note 208, page 52.
[254] _Madāmiʿ_, pl. of _madmaʿ_, _vide_ p. 50, note 200.
[255] “‘Cast,’ _s._, a ‘cast of hawks,’ _i.e._, two; not necessarily a
pair.”—_Harting_.
[256] _Kākulī_ P., which elsewhere the author says is called
_quṃburah_ by the Arabs; it is the Crested Lark.
[257] A lure made of pigeons’ wings is not very durable.
[258] The lark at the end of the stick will be in the _air_ the whole
time, and the merlin, though raw, will not therefore sit on the ground.
[259] _Baʿd az burdan-i gūsht._ A merlin will eat in a day, two
sparrows or larks.
[260] _Kākulī-yi mīk͟h-band._
[261] _Har du rā juft bi-yandāz._
[262] In the Dera Ismail Khan district, in the Panjab, the common
desert lark called _chandūr_ used to be snared in this fashion, the
wand used being a stalk of the grass called _kānā_.
[263] _Ḥalqa-yi mū-yi dum-i asp._
[264] The surface of the desert ground would be whitish in colouration.
[265] Not clear whether the author means that it is the larks or the
hawks that will not ring up, or both.
[266] _Kabk_, the Red-legged Partridge of India: _tīhū_, the Seesee of
India.
[267] _Yalva_ T., is a name of the woodcock, but it is probably a name
given also to some species of rail. One Persian Turk tells me that
it is called by the Persians _k͟hurūsak_, and “is of a reddish brown
colour, has a long bill, yellow legs, and frequents damp or marshy
ground.”
[268] “‘Carry,’ _v._, to fly away with the quarry.”—_Harting._
[269] _Qalam._
[270] “‘Intermewed’.—A hawk that has been moulted in
confinement.”—_Lascelles._
[271] _K͟hāna-t̤ūlak._
[272] “Haggard,” a hawk that has moulted in a wild condition. The
author here calls this _dāsh-t̤ūlak_ T. “moulted outside.”
[Illustration: XI
HOBBY WITH SEELED EYES]
CHAPTER XXIII
THE HOBBY[273]
The hobby resembles the merlin somewhat, but is larger, darker in
colouring, and prettier in appearance. It has long broad wings, dark
in colouring. Its feet are small and yellow. In a wild state it kills
larks and such-like small quarry, hunting well, like the merlin, but
it is evil-natured and cowardly.[274] In the _Shamīrānāt_ and in
_Māzandarān_[275] it nests in the gardens.[276] Nestlings, however,
are useless. The female is about the size of a shahin tiercel. It can
be trained, but with much trouble. You can, however, train one easily
to fly in company with a merlin, and make it kill by means of the
merlin’s assistance. More than this is not to be expected of it.[277]
If, as I say, you get a fine female passage falcon, call it to the
lure and fly it at “trains” and wild quarry, in company with a merlin,
but never bother yourself with an eyess.
FOOTNOTES:
[273] _Layl_, “The Hobby.”
[274] A hobby is too cowardly to be caught by a common quail as a
bait. I have frequently tried and failed, but on substituting a
sparrow have succeeded instantly. Lieut.-Colonel E. Delmé Radcliffe
in his pamphlet on Falconry states that the European Hobby is
sometimes trained in India and flown at the Hoopoe and the male at
the Diongo-Shrike or “King-crow.” I have, however, never met with any
Panjabī falconer who had heard of one being trained with success.
[275] For _Shamīrānāt_, _vide_ note 169, page 40. Mazenderan is a
province on the south coast of the Caspian.
[276] In the desert, the _bag͟hs_ or “gardens” are the only places
where there are tall trees.
[277] The hobby is not trained in the Panjab. In Albin’s _Natural
History of Birds_ (pub. 1738) it is stated that “The Fowlers, to
catch these Hawks, take a Lark and having blinded her and fastened
Lime-twigs to her legs, let her fly where they see the Hobby is, which
striking at the Lark is entangled with the Lime-twigs.”
[Illustration: XII
HOBBY WITH SEELED EYES]
[Illustration: XIII
HOBBY WITH SEELED EYES]
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SANGAK[278]
This “falcon” closely resembles the Indian Sparrow-Hawk,[279] but
the young bird is smaller and darker in colouration. Also it has not
the dark stripe under the chin.[280] The only difference between
the two is that the _Sangak_ is black-eyed while the _Pīqū_ is
yellow-eyed.[281]
In the jungle it preys chiefly on locusts and frogs, but occasionally
kills a small wounded or diseased bird. It haunts “gardens,” and,
like the hobby, nests in trees. However, it is a bird impotent and
unvalued, except for its tail, which can be used for “imping”[282]
that of a _pīqū_.
The “intermewed” bird and the nestling are identical in plumage, and
cannot be distinguished from each other.
FOOTNOTES:
[278] I am unable to identify this hawk.
[279] _Pīqū_ or _pīg͟hū_, the _shikra_ of India.
[280] Usually present in the young as well as in the old _shikra_.
[281] _Arzaq-chashm_, properly “blue-eyed.” Young shikras have
sometimes bluish grey eyes.
[282] “Imp to” is to repair broken flight- or tail-feathers by sewing
in, “grafting,” etc.: for methods _vide_ Badminton Library.
CHAPTER XXV
THE KESTRIL[283]
There are two species of kestril. One species is yellowish in
colouration and is covered with very pretty spots and markings; the
other is yellowish but without markings, whilst its claws are small
and _white_.
The first species, the “black-clawed” kestril,[284] kills in a wild
state, sparrows, quails, starlings[285] and such small quarry, but as
it is ill-tempered and slow of flight, falconers care little for it.
It, however, serves several purposes.
First: In Bushire and the desert tract of _Fārs_[286] it is caught and
trained as the Raven is trained by the Arabs.[287] A raven is caught
and so trained to “wait” on, that it will circle above the head for
half an hour. A fine cord about forty inches long is fastened to its
legs having at the end a bunch of feathers the size of a sparrow.
Thus prepared it is cast off to “wait on.” From a distance it has the
appearance of some bird of prey attempting to seize a small bird, and
this, arousing jealousy, attracts _bālābāns_ and other birds of prey
from a distance. Then, on the arrival of, say, a _bālābān_ with the
other birds, the raven settles, when the fowler lets fly a pigeon in
front of the _bālābān_. The latter fancies this is the quarry the
raven was chasing.[288] The moment it seizes the pigeon it is snared.
_Bālābāns_ are also caught with kestrils trained in this manner.[289]
Second: If you want to take passage sakers with an eyess saker
(_chark͟h_), catch one or two kestrils in a _du-gaza_ or sparrow-hawk
net,[290] “seel” their eyes and fly them as “trains.” Next fly your
eyess[291] at a wild _bālābān_: it will certainly not fail to take
it.[292]
For an eyess saker that is being trained to take eagles and sakers,
kestrils and buzzards[293] are necessary “trains.”
When giving a buzzard as a “train” the hind claw must be firmly bound
back to the shank. Also for the first three or four times meat
must be tied to its back before it is shown to and released for the
eyess. When the young hawk takes the “train,” she should be fed on
freshly-killed pigeon or chicken flesh. It is not, however, necessary
to tie back the hind claw of a kestril, as it is too weak to inflict
an injury.
Third: the tail, especially that of the moulted and mature bird, is
excellent for imping the broken tail-feathers of a sparrow-hawk.
LESSER KESTRIL.—As for the “White-clawed [the Lesser] Kestril”
the only useful thing about it is its tail, which can be used for
“imping.” In a wild state it preys on nothing but locusts and lizards.
In the country of Syria, on the way to Constantinople, I have observed
this species nesting inside the rooms of houses, in the niches in the
walls, and on the ledges[294] in the rooms. No one molests the birds.
They fly in flocks[295] like pigeons. Whenever you see kestrils flying
in a flock you may feel assured that they are the “white-clawed”
species, for the black-clawed species never flies in flocks.
TRAINING GREYHOUND PUP BY MEANS OF THE COMMON KESTRIL.—The Arabs of
_ʿUnayza_ and _Shammar_,[296] as I have myself witnessed, rear the
nestling of the Common Kestril, and when it is “hard-penned,”[297]
lure it with a lump of meat. As soon as it will somewhat come to this
lure, they catch an antelope-rat or jerboa-rat, tie a cord to its leg,
and fly the kestril at it. They next tie a long cord of ten or twelve
ells in length to a rat’s leg, and then fly the kestril at it from
a distance. After that they break one leg of a jerboa, and let it go
in front of a two months’ old greyhound pup, and then cast off the
kestril at it. The rat is taken after a few stoops. Next a jerboa is
loosed in front of two greyhound pups three or four months old.[298]
The pups start in pursuit, and the kestril is then cast off. At one
time the pups make a dash, at another the kestril makes a stoop, till
at last the rat is taken.
After killing a few rats with broken legs, a sound rat is released, a
fine stick, four fingers’ breadth in length, having previously been
passed cross-ways through the ears. This stick hinders the rat from
taking refuge in a hole, for of course two-months-old pups cannot,
unaided, overtake and kill a kangaroo-rat in the open country. Well,
the rat is let go, and the kestril and the pups give chase. It is
exactly like hawking gazelle with a _chark͟h_. After about thirty or
forty stoops and dashes, the rat is taken.
The whole object of this play is to teach the pups, while growing up,
to recognize the _chark͟h_;[299] so that should a hawk be flown at a
herd of even a thousand gazelle, the hounds will chase none but the
one at which the hawk is stooping. In puppyhood the hound has learnt
that without the assistance of the kestril it cannot overtake an
antelope-rat, and hence it has learnt to watch the hawk; and gradually
it becomes so knowing, that instead of at once starting in pursuit of
the gazelle-herd when it is slipped, it will fix its gaze skywards,
and wait on the movements of the _chark͟h_.
FOOTNOTES:
[283] _Dalīja_ or _dalīcha_.
[284] _Dalīja-yi nāk͟hūn-siyāh_, the (“Black-clawed”) Common Kestril:
_dalīja-yi nāk͟hūn safīd_, the (“White-clawed”) Lesser Kestril.
“Although the two species (the Common Kestril and the Lesser Kestril)
are so closely allied, there can be no difficulty in discriminating
the eggs, and we found that the Arab boys knew the difference between
the two species at once, calling one the black-nailed and the other
the white-nailed ‘bashîk’.”—_Rev. H. B. Tristram’s Ornithology of
Palestine_; _Ibis_, 1859.
[285] _Sār_; I believe this is the common starling.
[286] Bushire is nearly the centre of the coast line of the warm
desert tract of Fars.
[287] _Vide_ Chapter XV.
[288] Wild ravens in India not only chase house-pigeons but will enter
a dove-cot and kill them.
[289] For the use of a peregrine as a decoy _vide_ Badminton Library
volume, page 264.
[290] The best bait for a kestril is a mole-cricket.
[291] Wild peregrines and sakers will occasionally kill and eat
kestrils and _shikras_. Trained hawks will also do so. Under a
_lagar’s_ eyrie, in a cliff, I have found the feathers of quite a
number of kestrils. Major C. H. Fisher, in his _Reminiscences of a
Falconer_ (page 59), mentions that he once took a sparrow-hawk with a
trained falcon.
[292] Presumably the birds would “crab,” and the eyess being tame
would not let go on the approach of the falconer. More than once, had
I had a butterfly net, I could have placed it over a wild peregrine
that was engrossed in a fight on the ground with a trained hawk.
[293] _Sār_, “buzzard.”
[294] Of the Eastern Red-Legged Falcon (_Erythropus vespertinus_ of
Jerdon, and _E. amurensis_ of Blanford), Jerdon writes:—“Although
the adult male in its mode of colouration resembles the kestrils,
especially the lesser kestril, yet the colours of the young bird and
female approach more to that of the Hobbies....”
“Fellowes says that it is very common in Asia Minor, building its
nests under the roofs and sometimes even in the interior of houses.”
Jerdon also says that the claws are “fleshy.”
Dresser, in the _Birds of Europe_, writes:—“In many Turkish villages
(as, for instance, Turbali) the place swarms with these hawks (_F.
Cenchris_: Lesser Kestril).... Its eggs are placed without any nest
under the eaves on the clay walls of houses and stables....”
[295] In Kirman, Persia, in the beginning of April, 1902, a flock of
Lesser Kestrils roosted for some days in the trees in the Consulate
garden.
[296] Two hostile tribes that live in the Syrian desert. They are
noted for their breed of horses.
[297] “Hard-penned,” _i.e._, hard-feathered.
[298] “... When the pups [greyhound] are three or four months old,
their education commences. The boys drive out of their holes the
jerboa or the rat called “boualal” and set the pups at them. The
latter by degrees get excited, dash after them at full speed, bark
furiously at their holes, and only give up the pursuit to begin
another. At the age of five or six months they are assigned a prey
more difficult to catch—the hare....”—_The Horses of the Sahara and
the Manners of the Desert_, by E. Daumas. “McMaster says of its
agility [the Indian Jerboa-rat or Kangaroo-rat—Gerbillus indicus]:
‘I have seen them when released from a trap baffle and elude dogs in
the most extraordinary manner by wonderful jumps made over the backs,
and apparently into the very teeth of their pursuers’.”—_Mammalia of
India_; Sterndale.
[299] _Chark͟h-shinās_, adj.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE SHRIKE
Amongst the “black-eyed” birds of prey must be classed a small
sparrow-like bird, grey and black in colouring. In the Kurdish
language it is called _bāzūrī_, and in Persian _ālā güzkina_.[300] In
size it is somewhat larger than a sparrow: the wings are dark: the
eyes have a dark line of antimony:[301] the claws and beak are black,
sharp, and powerful. When trained, it kills with ease sparrows and the
small _tisks_[302] found in the wheat and barley, in Spring. It also
comes well to the lure from a distance.
There are two species. One grey and black with the antimony line under
the eyes, and one yellowish. The former is decidedly the better.[303]
FOOTNOTES:
[300] This is Turkish, not Persian. Persian Turks call the shrike _ālā
güzina_ also. In Shaw’s Turki Vocabulary (Appendix by Scully), _Lanius
Homeyeri_, the Grey Shrike, is said to be called _ālā g͟hurālāi_, and
_Lanius arenarius_, the Desert Shrike, _boz̤ g͟hurālāi_. The word
_ālā_ in Turki means “variegated” or “spotted.” In _Lahore to Yarkand_
(page 182) the Brown Shrike, _Lanius Cristatus_, is said to be called
_urulia_ in Turki.
[301] _Surma kashīda_; antimony is applied by means of a needle to an
Eastern’s eye, underneath the lashes of the under lids, and to the
outer corners of the eyes.
[302] _Tisk_ may be the Short-toed or Social Lark. In Shiraz, however,
_tisk_ is the name of a warbler like a white-throat, called in Kirman
_turnusk_, and also _barādar-i bulbul_, “the nightingale’s brother.”
_Sisk_ and _tirnisk_ are names that are probably both applied to the
same warbler.
[303] The Indian Grey Shrike (Lanius lahtora), called in the Derajat
_laṭorā_ and _mamālā_, used to be trained in Dera Ismail Khan to
catch small birds. A smaller species called _mamālī_—probably
the Rufous-backed Shrike, the _harwājī_ of Kashmir (Lanius
erythronotus)—does not appear to have been trained. Of the former
Jerdon writes:—“Mr. Philipps states that he has seen it capture small
birds; and that in the North-West, it is occasionally trained to do
so. He also relates that it is sometimes picketed to the ground,
closely attached to a starling, the neighbouring bushes, twigs, etc.,
being well smeared with bird-lime. All sorts of birds come to witness
the supposed fight and to separate the combatants, and many are
captured by the limed branches.”
CHAPTER XXVII
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
I have described to you the chief peculiarities of the “Yellow-Eyed”
and the “Black-Eyed” birds of prey. I will now teach you a few matters
that will make the masters of the Art of Falconry approve of this poor
slave of the Shāh—May our souls be his sacrifice!
TERM OF NATURAL LIFE.—Know that the term of natural life of the birds
of prey is considerable. In captivity they attain to twenty-five or
thirty years at least—provided they remain in the possession of one
man, a skilful falconer, and are not constantly changing hands. I
myself kept a passage saker for twenty moults, and although it was not
as good as it had been, still it continued to take quarry.
TO DISTINGUISH THE AGE OF A HAWK.—After a hawk has passed its fourth
or fifth year, none can tell its age—except God and its owner.
However, there are certain signs that mark a hawk of ten or fifteen
years. First; it is short-winged.[304] Second; its feet and soles
become full of wrinkles. Third; the two outside feathers of the tail,
one on each side, called by the Arabs _rudāfạ_,[305] are shorter than
the remainder, and the older the hawk the shorter these _rudāfạ_.[305]
IMPOSSIBILITY OF SNARING LONG-WINGED HAWKS BY AID OF A LAMP.—Never
try to snare “black-eyed” hawks by aid of a lamp, for as soon as they
see the light they will fly off. The “yellow-eyed,” however, with the
exception of owls and birds that hunt by night, can be snared by means
of a lamp, as will be described later.
_Qualifications of a Falconer._—The first requisite in a falconer is
patience. The second; that he be a sportsman and have a genuine love
for his hawks, and fly them himself. Let him not say:—“I will take a
lot of _chukor_; my master will reward me;” or, “Such and such quarry
is unlawful for food (_ḥarām_); I won’t fly at it. What is the use
of taking ravens and eagles? I’ll hawk _chukor_ and _seesee_, and
take them to my master; he’ll have them roasted, and will eat them
in front of the fire and will reward me.” This ass is an ignoramus,
and cares naught for hawks. Does he not know that if a short-winged
hawk is flown on level ground, and wedded to large quarry such as
ravens and duck and ruddy shieldrake and such-like, that it will in
the hills with the advantage of gravity fly at the poor _chukor_
all the better?[306] His object should not be money and rewards. He
must be fond of hawks and hawking; he must know his business; he
must be at heart a sportsman. The third; that he be good-tempered,
pleasant-spoken, and of a cheerful and cheery countenance, so that the
Good God may grant him his daily bread in abundance, and the quarry
may come to him of its own accord. Let him be clean of hand, clean in
person, and observant of the ordained prayers, so that God, who knows
all, may not send him and his hawk home in the evening empty-handed.
When mounting, the falconer should repeat the “Four _Qul_” and the
“Holy Verse,” which is the “Verse of the Throne,”[307] and then exhale
the breath on the person, so that the Munificent God may shelter from
evil, him and his companions, guard his hawk from the persecutions of
eagles, and send him home at night with a full bag and a happy heart.
These are the requisites for a sportsman.
If He who made the game be not forgot,
The best of sport will ever be thy lot;
How can He be, in granting sport, unkind
If thou hold fast this fact within thy mind?
Fourth; if you lose your hawk and despair of its recovery, then with
earnest sincerity repeat three times the _Nād-i ʿAlī_,[308] each time
exhaling the breath towards the direction you imagine the hawk to be,
and saying, “O God! by virtue of these words I adjure Thee to restore
to me my lost hawk.” There is no doubt but that you will recover her
instantly. This is my belief and my practice, and I have now in my
possession two or three passage sakers seventeen or eighteen years of
age. My son, these are my counsels: give ear to them, and bear them in
your mind, and you will experience no ill.
FOOTNOTES:
[304] These remarks are presumably meant to apply only to hawks in
captivity.
[305] _Rudāfạ_ is the plural of _radīf_. In the text, here and
elsewhere, the word is given as _radāni_, but as this is no correct
Arabic “form,” it is probably a copyist’s error for _rudāfạ_. _Vide_
also note 206, page 52.
[306] The author frequently uses the phrase _māya dāshtan_ to indicate
the advantage a hawk has when flying downwards from a height, as from
the fist of a mounted man, etc. _Chukor_ in the hills, and, I think,
pheasants too, go down-hill when a hawk is after them. At any rate
they are beaten for and flown at down-hill, the falconer taking his
stand up-hill.
[307] For these four chapters and the “Verse of the Throne,” _vide_
page 108, note 454. The texts are first repeated and the breath is then
exhaled on the breast, shoulders, and hands.
CHAPTER XXVIII
METHOD OF SNARING A WILD GOSHAWK WITH THE AID OF A LAMP
METHOD OF SNARING A GOSHAWK WITH THE AID OF A LAMP.—Should you happen
to see a goshawk (_t̤arlān_) settle on a tree towards sunset, keep a
careful watch on it from a distance till three or four hours after
dusk, and see that it is not disturbed. Then take a long light pole
of sufficient length to reach the hawk, and firmly bind to one end a
horse-hair noose; a span’s distance below the noose fasten a lighted
wax-candle. Take this pole and proceed alone towards the tree on which
the goshawk is sleeping, till within thirty yards of it. Now, with
noiseless steps, advance very slowly for ten yards; and then halt for
seven or eight minutes: next extinguish the candle and remain in the
dark for two or three minutes. Re-light the candle and advance ten
yards more, very very slowly; and then halt for some minutes: then
extinguish the candle and wait another two or three minutes in the
dark. Re-light the candle, and, holding it aloft, advance stealthily
to the foot of the tree.
Keep the lighted candle in front of the goshawk’s face. Now, my son,
pull yourself together and keep your eyes open; let hand and foot be
steady; don’t get flurried: think not you are after a goshawk. Say
to yourself: “It is a leaf of a tree, or a barn-door fowl.” Don’t
let your hand shake. This is the advice I give you: I cannot myself
act up to it, nor do I believe that any falconer can. Well, hold the
light[309] close to the goshawk’s breast. If she is asleep, head under
wing, gently, ever so gently, stroke her breast with the horse-hair
noose to awaken her, but have a care your nervous hand does not
tremble but keeps the pole well away from her breast, or else she
is off. Stroke her breast with the noose, ever so gently, till she
withdraws her head from under her wing. Then pass the noose on to her
neck, and pull her down to you.[310] On the spot, “seel” her eyes
with blue[311] thread, using a fine needle,[312] and “mail”[313] her
tightly.
FOOTNOTES:
[308] _Nād-i ʿAlī_ for the Arabic _Nād^i ʿAlīy^{an}_ (“call on
_ʿAlī_”), a prayer to _ʿAlī_ much used by Shiahs: an amulet on which
the following prayer is inscribed, is also so-called:—
“Cry aloud to ʿAlī the possessor of wonders!
From him thou wilt find help from trouble!
He quickly removes all grief and anxiety!
By the Mission of Muḥammad and his own sanctity!”
Colonel J. P. Hamilton, in his _Reminiscences of an Old Sportsman_,
writes: “The following superstitious ceremonies are mentioned
in a book on falconry, supposed to be in the time of Edward the
Confessor:—After a hawk has been ill and is sufficiently recovered
to pursue the game, the owner has this admonition given to him: On
the morrow tyde when thou goest out hawking, say, ‘In the name of the
Lord, the birds of heaven shall be beneath thy feet.’ Also if he be
hurt by the heron, say, ‘The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of
David, has conquered. Hallelujah.’ And if he be bitte of any man, say,
‘He that the wicked man doth bind, the Lord at his coming shall set
free’.”
In the middle ages, at the festival of St. Hubert, “dogs and falcons
were brought into the church to receive the priest’s benediction, to
the sound of horn and trumpet:....”: _vide_ _Science and Literature in
the Middle Ages_, by Paul Lacroix.
[309] _Chirāg͟h_ in m. c. is often incorrectly used in the sense of
‘light’ instead of ‘lamp.’
[310]
“A praty craft to take an hawke that is brokyn owt of mew.
and all maner of fowlys that syt in trees if a man wyll.
“Looke Where an hawke perchith for all nyght: in any maner place. and
softe and layserly clymbe to her With a sconce or a lanterne that hath
bot oon light. in yowre hande and let the light be towarde the hawke
so that she se not yowr face and ye may take hir by the leggys or oder
Wise as ye lyst. and in lyke Wise all other maner fowle.”—_Boke of St.
Albans._
[311] That is with thread dyed with indigo: indigo is good for wounds.
[312] Hawk-catchers are careless about the manner they “seel” a hawk’s
eyes: they generally use a coarse, large, needle and not infrequently
a thorn.
[313] _Qapāncha kardan_, “To mail” a hawk: _vide_ page 59, note 247.
[Illustration: XIV
PERSIAN FALCONER WITH INTERMEWED GOSHAWK (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY A
PERSIAN)]
CHAPTER XXIX
TRAINING THE _T̤ARLĀN_ OR PASSAGE GOSHAWK
After treating the hawk as described at the end of the last chapter,
keep her “mailed”[314] for an hour or two, and furnish her with
jesses, leash, and halsband.[315] After two hours or so “un-mail”
her, and carry her on the fist for about an hour, gently stroking her
breast and wings the while. Then place her on her perch to rest.
Next morning at daybreak take her on the fist, and, as gently as
possible stroking her breast and back,[316] carry her till four or
five hours after sunrise. Use any device or trick you can to get her
to feed; scratch her feet between the digits to induce her to eat. If
she will eat, give her a small quantity of meat; but if she won’t,
let her remain hungry till the afternoon[317] and then try again: if
then she will eat, well and good; give her a full meal that she may
remember it, and learn to look to you for food. If she won’t eat, on
no account force meat down her throat, or this will become a habit
with her. Again in the evening take her on the fist, her eyes being
still seeled, and carry her for five or six hours,[318] stroking her
and scratching her feet to induce her to eat. If still she won’t eat,
it is of no consequence: set her down to rest for the night.
The next morning try her again in the same way: she will probably
feed. However, some goshawks will sulk for three days, refusing
all food. Don’t be alarmed if your hawk does so, for it is of no
consequence;[319] she will eat on the fourth day.
[Illustration: XV
INTERMEWED GOSHAWK ON EASTERN PADDED PERCH (FROM A PERSIAN PAINTING)]
A soon as she has learnt to eat freely with seeled eyes, whether on
your fist or off it, slightly unseel them, _i.e._, loosen the seeling
thread so that she may see a little out of the tops of her eyes,[320]
and feed her well, so. The next evening open her eyes a little more.
The third evening unseel her eyes completely, and sit near a lamp with
your back to the wall that none may pass to and fro behind you. This
evening she must be on your fist for four or five hours. After that,
carry her into a dark spot and place her on her perch to rest.
Early next morning take her up, and sit, back to the wall, in some
quiet spot, where people can be seen at a distance. Near noon, feed
her up for the day, and then set her on a perch in a place where
people cannot pass to and fro, except at a distance. Two or three
hours before sunset, take her on the fist again and carry her till two
hours after nightfall, _i.e._, much less than on the previous night.
In the morning take her up as before. To-day you must feed her twice,
giving her less in the morning and more in the evening.
During these few days you must on no account give her feathers or
casting, for she will, from fear, retain them in her stomach, and her
temperament will be upset.
On the sixth night you must carry her till midnight, stroking her at
frequent intervals. By this time she will have become perfectly quiet.
Then carry her to her perch, and set her down to rest.
Early next morning take her on the fist, and carry her in a place
where no one can pass behind you. Then take her to some quiet, private
spot, and place a live chicken or pigeon in her feet, and get her to
seize it. Then cut the chicken’s throat and give her a little to eat.
Try and induce her to step on to your fist, either from the ground or
from her perch.
During these few days that you are giving her live birds, feed her
while close to a hound,[321] so that she may get accustomed to the
presence of such dogs. Tie a long cord to the leash, and placing her
on an assistant’s fist induce her to fly a few paces to your fist. Do
not give her live pigeons and chickens every day or she will learn to
come to your fist only for the “pelt,”[322] and that is an error.
Call her rather to plain meat so that, should you in the field not
happen to have a live bird about you, she will, the moment you raise
your fist, come readily to a meat-lure. There is no harm if you kill
in her feet a live bird, say every eight or ten days.
When she is thoroughly trained to the lure, _i.e._, when she will
without a “creance”[323] come with eagerness to your fist, starting
without hesitation from any spot where you may place her, cast her on
the ground and play with her so as to teach her to run round and round
you, so that when, in the field, she puts a quarry into a bush[324]
she may run round the bush just as you have taught her to run round
you, so that by this means the chukor she has “put in” may not trick
her by making off from the far edge of the bush. The object of this
instruction on the ground is to teach her to run round the bush and
block the quarry after she has “put it in,” and then to rise and take
up a commanding position on a tree[325] to watch the bush from thence,
so that the partridge escape her not.
The more familiar you make your hawk, and the keener you make her on
the lure,[326] the better. Now, if you have trained[327] your hawk in
less than forty days, you have hurried her training, and “Hurry is of
the Devil, but Deliberation is from God.”[328] Be not overhasty or you
will spoil her. Such and such a falconer is sure to vaunt his skill,
boasting that he has trained and flown his hawk in fifteen days. He
has erred and blundered: he is not a lover of a hawk but a lover of
the pot;[329] he is one who would not sacrifice one partridge for a
hundred goshawks. As for you, your hawk must not be trained[330] in
less than forty days.[331]
When your hawk is trained, that is when she is perfect at the lure and
accustomed to hounds, horses, and mounted men, go, the day before you
intend flying her at wild quarry, into the open country and lure her
from a distance with a chicken two or three months old. As soon as she
comes, let her take it, and feed her up on it for the day, giving her
feathers and bones, that she may throw up her casting[332] early the
following morning.
Although it is the custom of many Ostringers[333] to give to a
goshawk, the day before she is to be flown, _washed meat_—that is
meat cut small, cast into luke-warm water and given with a lot of
water—still in my opinion the practice is wrong; for if a hawk
be alternately given washed meat one day and flown the next, and
habituated to this custom, the custom becomes second nature to her.
Now suppose your friends and acquaintances, together with their
falconers, some fifty persons in all, have settled to go for a ten
days’ hawking trip to a certain spot where there is an abundance of
_chukor_ and other quarry, and have invited you to join them, you
ought, during these short ten days, to hawk every day. However, your
hawk will only give you five days’ sport, for you have habituated her
to fly on alternate days, after she has been “set;”[334] she certainly
will not now fly every day. Do not therefore teach her this custom.
Give her the day before you go hawking, not washed meat but a chicken
as I have said, for a chicken’s flesh has little nourishment and
will “set” her as though she had been given washed meat. By giving
her a chicken you will not accustom her to washed meat; and when on
that ten days’ outing you will not have to stay at home and twiddle
your thumbs.[335] Another objection to washed meat is that your hawk
gradually loses condition.
To resume. After luring your hawk from a distance and killing the
chicken under her and feeding her upon it, set her on the edge of some
water: she will perhaps drink and bathe,[336] and oil,[336] and preen
her feathers, and so be in fettle for to-morrow’s flight. One hour
before sunset take her on the fist.
(My son, never, never, go up to a new hawk without meat in your
hand.[337] Always approach a new, sitting hawk very, very slowly, and
sit down to one side of her. Do not look at the hawk’s eyes, for a
man’s eyes and face have a terrifying effect on hawks, especially when
the gazer’s head is crowned with a Turcoman cap. Take meat in your
hand and get her to jump from the perch to your fist, and let her eat
one or two beakfuls: then carry her away. Falconer, listen: should you
ever require to go to your hawk in the dark to take her on the fist,
having no light with you, talk to yourself in a low tone the while;
for she will recognize your voice and not be scared).
In short take her on your fist an hour before sunset, and carry her
till an hour after dark. If you ride about with her on a quiet horse,
so much the better. After that set her down to rest for the night.
(There should be a light in your hawk’s room all night that she may
feel secure. It is a mistake to keep a goshawk in the dark, for
goshawks are ever fearful.)
Very early next morning take up your own hawk, and be afield before
the eagles have begun their daily questing.[338] You must not have
with you more than one dog, well-mannered and well-trained. Let your
hawk have a beakful or two[339] of meat to whet her appetite and make
her keen. Now go into a good spot, mark down a _chukor_ that will give
a fairly easy flight,[340] and, saying “Oh God! my hope is in Thee,”
cast off your hawk. My son, though falconers and sportsmen do not
approve of this, yet I approve it: act as I instruct thee and thou
wilt experience no ill.
Give ear to my teaching; my precepts obey:
In the training of hawks I have spent all my day.
A truly-trained bird can see from afar,
And choose for its quarry “Aquilla” the star.
If your hawk to fly rightly you wish and desire,
To God say a prayer, for He is thy Sire.
When the Portal of Hope is open to all[341]
Before God, on thy knees, with reverence fall.
Take care of thy bird, for God made it too,
The earth and the sea, the Heavens and you.
At any rate this hawk of yours has been perfected in every part of her
training. Perhaps, too, she is fast. If, as she leaves your fist, she
at once take the “chukor” in the air, on no account feed her up: give
her only the brain. When by this act of hers you have discovered that
she is fast, go and put up another “chukor.” If it rise close to you,
let it get away a little distance before you cast off your hawk so
that the partridge may not be taken, but be “put into” a bush. Now go
with a very little meat in your hand, and dismount near the bush. Go
very gently and take your hawk on your fist. Set on your dog[342] and
make it put up the partridge out of the bush. As soon as the partridge
rises, cast off your hawk. However she take it, whether at once in
the air, or at a distance before it can “put in,” go slowly up to her
and cut the “chukor’s” throat. If you want to fly your hawk again
next day, give her one thigh, the heart, and the liver together with
feathers as “casting.” If you don’t intend to fly her next day, give
her in addition one side of the breast.[343] While feeding her, call
the dog to your side that she may become accustomed to it.
If your hawk be a tiercel,[344] one thigh of the “chukor” with the
head and neck and their bones will be a sufficient feed.
Now let us suppose that you are out with your friends on that ten
days’ hawking expedition and that your hawk has daily killed five or
six partridges without misbehaving herself, and that you have duly
fed her up after the last flight, at the place she put in; do not
suppose that now, after she is thoroughly entered to quarry,[345] you
must necessarily during these ten days act so every day. Should you,
for instance, now prefer to stay at home one day, lure her from a
distance; but should you take the field, then at the last flight, when
she has taken her partridge, give her the head and brain to eat. On
the spot where she has killed or “put in,” place her on a stone and
go yourself a long way off, and then lure her to you and feed her up.
She has learnt how to kill partridges, and your present action is to
prevent her forgetting the lure.
Let us suppose that the first day your new goshawk takes the partridge
in the air you feed her up on it. Well, the next time you go out
hawking, she will, on the partridge rising, try her best;[346] if she
take it in the air, well and good, but if not, she will either return
to you or give up; she will not continue to chase the partridge till
she puts it in.[347] Many a good hawk have I seen spoilt like this
through the gross ignorance of the falconer. A hawk cannot always take
a partridge in the air: it should therefore learn to follow and “put
in.”[347]
Though I have warned you once, I warn you again; do not go hawking
chickens and house-pigeons,[348] for this is a mistake.
The goshawk falcon[349] is in every respect better than the tiercel.
I have proved this by experience. Many falconers say that the tiercel
is faster and more adroit, but these do not know that a hundred
tiercels cannot do what one “falcon”[349] does. It appears to them
that the tiercel is faster, because he is smaller and moves his wings
with greater rapidity. But the falcon is larger and longer, and can,
from the summits of high hills make a partridge “put in.” The tiercel
cannot do this; it gives up half way. There is no question but that
the falcon is a hundred degrees better than the tiercel,[350] either
for quarry as small as the Quail, or for quarry as large as the Common
Crane and the Great Bustard.[351]
My son, if you want to be counted by keepers of short-winged hawks a
past master in the art, and to reap a full enjoyment from the sport,
then train your goshawks,[352] sparrow-hawks, and shikras, etc., as I
have described.
You should try to finish your day’s hawking before noon, so that you,
your horse, your hawk, and your hound, may all rest till the next day.
Hawking prolonged into the afternoon[353] is bad, because eagles and
other birds of prey are then in search of their evening meal, and they
will come down on you even from afar off. Should you lose your hawk in
the afternoon, you have little time to search for her and also reach
your house before nightfall. Should you not lose her, but manage to
add a few more partridges to your bag, it is difficult to know the
proper amount of food to give: the Winter nights are long and cold,
and if you give her but a small feed she will lose condition;[354] if
through fear of the cold you give a full feed, she, tired though she
be, will not sleep; or if she sleep, she will not “put over”[355] nor
digest[356] properly, and next day your friends will start off hawking
before your hawk has cast[357] or got her appetite. These are the
reasons I do not approve of hawking in the afternoon. If your friends
force you to go out hawking with them in the afternoon, feed up your
hawk after her first flight.
Do not overfly your hawk. She should fly no more than she can fly
with delight to herself. Two or three flights are sufficient,
and I consider it unlawful (_ḥarām_) to give her more than five
flights.[358] If she be flown only two or three times, she will remain
keen on her quarry.[359] This is the way to treat all goshawks and
sparrow-hawks. Know that all these sporting-birds are naturally good,
and the Wise God has created them all for the pleasure and delight of
man; but it rests with the falconer to make or mar them. Except in
two particulars, their good or bad points are the result of training.
First, the falconer, however good, cannot make slow hawks fast, nor
_vice versâ_. Second, he cannot increase the courage of his hawk.
Now, although I have seen it stated in works on falconry[360] that
to increase a hawk’s courage you should feed her for three days on
pigeon’s flesh steeped in wine,[361] when if she have previously
taken only partridges she will now take even cranes, yet this is not
the case; the statement is falsehood, pure and unalloyed, for I have
tested it: my hawk took no cranes—that was of minor importance—but
what she did do was to fall sick. It is God, not the falconer, that
bestows swiftness and courage. In these two matters the falconer is
powerless.
God gave the hawk her courage and her speed,
Can’st thou thyself increase what He Himself decreed?
For instance, if ten horses be trained for a race,[362] one will win,
and whenever you race them the same one will win—unless, of course,
some accident happen, or the horse is out of sorts. So, too, with
greyhounds and other animals. In short, courage and powers of flight
have nothing whatever to do with the falconer: for these the Grace of
God is necessary.
Now, first you must train your hawk to come eagerly to the fist from
any spot where your voice reaches her. Further, you must not encourage
her to become so bold and familiar with dogs that she lay hands on
them;[363] for it may happen that one day when you have cast her at a
partridge, a fox or a jackal crosses her path: if she has acquired a
habit of binding to dogs she will fasten on to the fox or jackal, and
so suffer instant destruction. Neither must you allow her to be too
bold with small children, lest one day, while you are absent, your
small boy come to her on her perch and she seize him, and none be
there to hear his cries, and so he be blinded or killed. Both these
accidents have happened frequently, _i.e._, a goshawk has killed
a child, and a jackal a goshawk. This evil habit seldom exists in
passage hawks,[364] _qizil_, or _t̤arlān_; it is generally the eyess
_qizil_[365] that acts like this, and hence falconers are not very
fond of the eyess.[365] In short, your hawk should stand somewhat in
fear of all dogs except your own hound; it is better for her to remain
in fear of strange hounds that might injure her, and of the dogs of
the wandering tribes.[366]
Secondly, your hawk should make the partridge “put in” (or take it
just as it is going to “put in”),[367] and then after circling round
the covert two or three times take stand on the top of the covert till
you arrive, when she should leave her perch and come to your fist.
She should not fly off and leave the place where the partridge “put
in,” else by the time you have followed her and recovered her, the
partridge will have escaped.
Such is hawking with short-winged hawks in hilly country, that
is, hawking “chukor” and “seesee”[368]. As for hawking in flat
country, a goshawk will there take duck, geese, common cranes,[369]
great bustards, ravens, hubara, stone-plovers,[370] saker
falcons,[371] and even imperial sand-grouse,[372] quail,[373]
pin-tailed sand-grouse,[372] and ruddy shieldrakes.[373] All this
quarry—(pheasants[374] and black partridges[375] are excepted)—she can
take at the first or second dash[376] only, otherwise she will fail in
doing so.
If you come across any of this quarry in open country and desire to
fly at it, then, if your hawk, by crouching and resting its breast
on your hand and becoming rigid,[377] shows that she has a natural
inclination for it,[378] be sure you take notice of the direction of
the wind. With your hawk’s breast towards the wind,[379] gallop your
horse towards the quarry. The horse must indeed move, but you must so
hold and keep your fist that your hawk does not open her wings; for
she must, while the quarry has still a foot on the ground, quit your
fist like a bullet; she will then take the quarry in the air before
it has got away ten yards. On no account cast your hawk off with her
back to the wind, for this is dangerous. First, by casting her off
back to the wind, her loins will be strained; and leaving your fist
uncollectedly, she will fail to reach the quarry, and your falconer
friends will jeer at you and at your action. Should you even manage to
cast her off so close that it is as though you are giving the quarry
into her hand, she and the quarry, when she “binds”[380] to it, will
fall to the ground (_i.e._, if the wind be at all strong), and the
quarry will, breaking away from her, not again be overtaken. Should
your hawk even bind so firmly that, on falling, the quarry does not
break away, still she will suffer for that folly, and will get injured
or fall sick. It is the habit of all birds of prey, when within the
distance of five or six spans of their quarry, to cease beating their
wings, in order to get ready to seize it. Now if you cast off your
hawk, breast to the wind, even though she cease to beat her wings for
the last three or four feet of her flight, still by the help of the
impetus gained by the cast, by your horse’s galloping, and by the
beating of her own wings, she will reach and “bind” to the quarry and
sportsmen will compliment you and commend your hawk. If, however, you
cast her off up-wind of the quarry, the moment when, according to
her nature, she ceases beating her wings on nearing the quarry, the
wind will strike her loins and overturn her; and she will therefore
fail to “bind.” Hence it is a law never to fly a hawk with her back
to the wind: to do so is botchery. When, however, hawking partridges
in the hills with a goshawk, or when hawking gazelles in the plains
with a saker, the rule allows of exceptions. In the former case your
hawk is cast off from a height, and with the aid of gravity[381]
follows the partridge till it “puts in;” in the hills, too, the force
of the wind is broken. In the latter case you have no choice but to
fly your _chark͟h_ or _bālābān_ at gazelle from up-wind, for as soon
as the falcon stoops and the greyhound arrives, the gazelle has no
choice but to put its nose into the wind and to flee windwards.[382]
If the wind is strong, the falcon, flying against the wind, will
probably not overtake it; but if she does make sufficient headway to
overtake it—which she may do with great difficulty—she will, while
stooping and recovering and again rising high, lose ground and fall
about a thousand paces behind. In the meantime the greyhounds are too
blown[383] to seize the gazelle. For these reasons the gazelle must be
flown at from up-wind;[384] this will also be explained later, in the
chapter on the _Chark͟h_.
These observations do not apply to hawking _chukor_ and _seesee_,
for these “put in.” Still, it is better to fly at even these, from
up-wind, whether in the hills or in the plains, for then the advantage
is with the hawk.
When your hawk is thoroughly entered to _chukor_ and _seesee_,[385]
and never fails you, you should fly her in the plains at some of the
quarry mentioned above; for flying a hawk in the plains, after she
has been thoroughly entered to _chukor_ and _seesee_, has several
special advantages, though these are not commonly known to falconers.
Many falconers fancy that if you fly your hawk at large quarry in the
plains, thoroughly accustoming her to it, she will not thereafter
take _chukor_ and _seesee_. This is an error. Now a goshawk can only
take duck and hubara and such-like quarry of the plains, at the
first or second dash: if not taken at once such quarry will speedily
outstrip the hawk. Therefore the hawk must, on level open ground, fly
her fastest and strive her utmost at the beginning, and this habit
soon becomes second nature. If a man wrestle with a famed wrestler,
thereafter novices and ordinary people are to him as nothing.[386]
So, too, it is with a hawk flown at large quarry. Even at the
commencement, partridges are a mere nothing to her; but when, after
acquiring the habit of swift flight by being flown in the plains, she
is again flown in the hills with the additional advantage of gravity,
her swiftness will astonish you; it will truly be something to see.
You must, of course, not weary her by overflying, for by overflying
you make her stale.[387] A second advantage derived from flying her in
the plains, is that she necessarily sees a large number of buzzards,
vultures, kites, eagles, and such-like birds, and so, becoming
speedily familiarized to them, ceases to be in terror of them.
A third advantage is, that when she fails to take the quarry and
“falls at marke,”[388] she will, on your riding up, readily rise
and take stand on your fist, for goshawks have a natural dislike to
resting on a flat surface; they love to perch on trees, hillocks, or
rocks.
A fourth; your hawk learns to take every quarry at which she is
flown: should you fail to find partridges you need not return with an
empty bag, tired and cross; for you can fly her at hubara, ravens,
stone-plovers, etc., instead.
My son, teach your hawk the habits that I have described. Also
accustom her to drink freely;[389] accustom her after each meal to
drink a beakful or two. Always, about two hours after dark, offer her
water in a cup held close in front of her; try to induce her[390]
to take a few beakfuls, as by so doing she will digest easily.[391]
Accustom her to drinking at least two or three times a day, either
from a cup or from a stream. If she drink only one beakful, it is an
advantage, especially at night. Drinking keeps her in health.
Now my son, know that it is the pride and glory of a falconer to train
long-winged, not short-winged hawks; for the natural quarry of the
former is rats, black-breasted sand-grouse, pigeons, duck, and small
birds; but when falcons fall into the hands of a competent falconer,
they are required to take common cranes, geese, and gazelles. If the
falconer be not skilled, how can such quarry be taken by the falcon?
As for goshawks, their natural quarry in the hills is partridges and
pigeons, and in the hands of the falconer they do no more than kill
partridges: it is merely incumbent on the falconer to familiarize them
with horses, dogs and men, so that after “putting in” they may take
stand and not make off.
Now I, the slave of the Royal Court, was once in attendance on His
Majesty (may our souls be his sacrifice) in the hills of (——?)[392]
in _Māzenderān_. One day a flight of snow-cock[393] rose suddenly in
front of the August Presence of the King of Kings. I had on my fist
a female _t̤arlān_ of two moults. The moment the covey, consisting
of twenty or thirty birds,[394] rose, I cast off my hawk, and she
promptly took one cock in the air.[395] I hastily dismounted and gave
her the brain only; I did not feed her up. Meanwhile the “_Qibla_[396]
of the Universe” dismounted and became busy with his breakfast. I
took the snow-cock into the Presence: it was examined and I was
complimented. I remounted and rode on a short distance, when three
more snow-cock rose in front of me. I flew the same hawk and took
one,[397] and the Shāh had not finished breakfast when I bore it
into the Presence. He applauded me and bestowed on me a shawl, for
it is most unusual for a goshawk to succeed in taking a snow-cock. A
goshawk may indeed take one straight away, in the air, just as it has
risen,[398] but she cannot make one “put in,” for a snow-cock will fly
for miles.[399]
FOOTNOTES:
[314] _Qapāncha kardan_, “to mail” a hawk: _vide_ page 59, note 247.
[315] _Pācha-band_, “jesses.” In the Derajat, Panjab, the term is
restricted to cotton or silk jesses, fitted with “varvels” (rings);
_vide_ page 18, note 83. _Shikār-band_ “leash;” but in the Derajat
the thin leather thong that attaches the swivel to the jesses is so
called: _vide_ page 18, note 83. For “halsband” _vide_ page 3, note 31.
[316] Much stroking on the back is to be avoided, as it removes the
oil that makes the back feathers impervious to rain.
[317] _ʿAsr_, that is two and a half hours before sunset; the time
mid-way between noon and sunset.
[318] In countries under Muslim rule the watch is set daily at sunset,
which is 12 o’clock.
[319] If a newly caught goshawk tear off bits of meat and cast them
aside, she should be tried with a small bird _with the feathers on_.
[320] _Bāla-bīn_, adj.
[321] _T̤ūla_, _vide_ p. 89, note 366.
[322] _T̤uʿma-yi zinda hama rūz bi-dast-ash na-dihī tā pay-i kushta
bi-dast-i tu bi-yāyad_: I think the meaning of the author has been
rendered. _Kushta_, the “pelt” or the dead quarry, especially when
used as a lure.
[323] “Creance,” _vide_ p. 38, note 162.
[324] _Buna_, “bush,” is used by the author for the quarry put into
the bush. In Urdu _Bāz ne buna kiyā_ = “the goshawk has put in the
quarry,” and _Buna uṭhā,o_ = “beat out the quarry that has been put
in.” A bird has “put in” when it is forced to take refuge in a bush,
covert, etc., etc.
[325] “Note, use to call her from the grounde furst, and that will
make her fall at marke in the plaine felde otherwyse she will to
a tree.”—_A Perfect Booke for Kepinge of Sparhawkes_: Edited by
_Harting_. For “Fall at marke,” _vide_ p. 92, note 388. For remarks
on “taking stand,” _vide_ “Notes on the Falconidæ used in India in
Falconry,” by Lieut.-Colonel E. Delmé Radcliffe (pp. 20-1). Natives of
the Panjab do not consider “taking stand” a vice.
[326] _Garm-i t̤alab._
[327] _Rasānīdan_, Tr.
[328] A tradition of the Prophet.
[329] _Bāz-dūst nīst_; _kabk-k͟hwur ast_.
[330] _Rasīdan_, Intr.
[331] Forty days: this is an axiom amongst Indian falconers also, who
usually try and make out that the “watching” occupies forty days, and
that they must therefore have extra assistants, blankets, oil, etc.,
etc.
[332] _T̤uʿmah_, Ar. “meat, meal, food, etc.;” this word is frequently
used by the author for “casting,” _t̤uʿma andāk͟htan_, P. “to cast.” A
“casting” is fur, feathers, etc., given to the hawk with its food.
[333] _Shikār-chī-yi zard-chashm_, “Ostringer.” “An ostringer or
austringer, etc., one who keeps short-winged hawks, especially the
Goshawk.”—_Harting._ In the _Boke of St. Albans_ the term is confined
to those that keep “Goshawkys or Tercellis,” while “Those that kepe
Sperhawkys and musketys ben called Speruiteris.”
[334] _Ishtihā dādan_, “to give an appetite” is by the author always
used for giving washed, or rather wetted, meat.
[335] _Ṣalavāt firistādan_, _i.e._, pass the time telling the beads
while saying “Oh God, bless Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad.”
[336] _Āb-bāzī kardan_, “to bathe.” _Rug͟han-kashī kardan_, “to oil
the feathers.”
[337] This was the practice of a certain Panjab falconer who had a
great reputation for training goshawks. He never went empty-handed
to a goshawk to take her on the fist, even after she was trained:
he _always_ took with him a bit of meat, about the size of a pea,
concealed in his palm.
[338] Eagles are late risers and do not leave their roosting places
till the sun has warmed the air, that is in the winter not till after
eight o’clock. Peregrines leave their roosts while it is still dark.
[339] _Ching_, “beak,” but _chang_, “claw, talons, fingers, etc.”:
_ching zadan_, “to strike with the beak, peck, etc.”
[340] _Kabk-i munāsib-ī_; this is I presume the author’s meaning.
_Munāsib_, “fitting, suitable,” often has the meaning, both in India
and in Persia, of “medium-sized, of average size.”
[341] At dawn the doors of Heaven are open and the Angels descend to
fix each man’s daily portion. Morning prayers are accepted by God.
[342] _T̤ūla rā hay zadan._
[343] _Yak sīna_ = the _bag͟hal_ of Panjab falconers.
[344] _Jurra qūsh_; _vide_ page 25, note 107.
[345] _Garm shudan._
[346] _Yak zūr bi-parīdan mi-āvarad._
[347] _Bi-buna burdan_ or—_rasānīdan_.
[348] _Vide_ note 322, page 80.
[349] _Qūsh-i tavār._ The female of the goshawk used to be dignified
by the title “falcon”: _vide_ also page 25, note 107.
[350] The females of all species of hawks and falcons are, I think,
faster and better-winded than the males, though the latter are
probably more adroit.
[351] _Tūīt̤ug͟hlī_ T. is explained by the author in more than one
marginal note as being the _mīsh-murg͟h_ or “sheep-bird:” _tuit̤uglī_,
_ta,īt̤uglī_, _dūīdāg͟h_ and _t̤ūī_ are other forms of the word.
(Persians that are not sportsmen often call the Egyptian or White
Scavenger Vulture _mīsh-murg͟h_.)
[352] _T̤arlān u qizil._
[353] _ʿAsr_, the time between noon and sunset.
[354] A hawk in just proper condition, if underfed, will, if the night
be very cold, become thin in one night. In the Indian Spring, when the
nights are temperate, I have known a saker falcon go up two ounces in
weight in _one night_, from a slight overfeed of hubara flesh.
[355] A good Indian falconer would carry his hawk after dark till she
had “put over” completely, first allowing her an hour’s rest or more.
“Carrying,” with its constant shifting of position, not only causes
a hawk to “put over” quicker, but induces it to digest and empty the
bowel: on the fist she will “mute” thrice for every twice on the
perch. After a hard day’s work, water should be offered her at night,
especially if she has been fed on the rich flesh of the hubara: after
a feed on hubara flesh, I have known some sakers drink two or three
times between nightfall and midnight. If a hawk has been fed late and
is to be flown early next day, it should be taken on the fist before
sunrise (a lamp being lit in the room) and “carried,” the hawk being
made to change its position frequently: this induces it to “cast”
earlier than it would otherwise do. When hubara-hawking _all day long_
in the desert for ten or fifteen days at a stretch, my falconers
would carry the hawks from 3 or 4 a.m. till daybreak, and the hawks
(peregrines or sakers) would be ready to fly by 8 a.m. (A hawk “puts
over” when it takes down any portion of the meat from its crop into
its stomach). “Putting over” quickly is the sign of a good digestion.
[356] _Ṣarf kardan_ is properly “to eat,” but by it the author
evidently means either to “put over,” or “to digest,” I do not know
which. _Qūsh gūsht-ash mī-shikanad_ P. and _ʿat̤īn āpārir_ T. are the
ordinary expressions for “the hawk is ‘putting over’.”
[357] _T̤uʿma andāk͟htan_, “to cast,” _i.e._, to throw up the casting
in the morning. _Vide_ page 82, note 332.
[358] It must be recollected that the quarry is the _chukor_ partridge
which is usually found in the hills, and five flights might represent
a lot of work. With the grey partridge of India five flights would be
nothing for a good goshawk.
[359] For Falcons—peregrines or sakers—five flights at hubara are
sufficient, two in the morning and three in the afternoon: at heron or
kite one flight.
[360] _Bāz-Nāma_: many of these Persian MSS. exist both in Persia and
India.
[361] The _Boke of St. Albans_ gives the following “Medecyne for an
hawke that has lost here corage”:—“Take Oyle of spayne and tempere it
With clere Wine. and With the yolke of an egge and put therein befe.
and thereof geue to youre hawke. v. morcellis. and then set hir in
the sonne. and at euen fede hir With an old hote coluer. and if ye
fede hir thꝰ iii tymys that hawke Was neuer so lusty nor so Joly
before. as she Will be after and come to hir owne corege” (page 26).
In Bert’s _Treatise of Hawks and Hawking_, 1619 (page 101 of Harting’s
Edition; reprinted by Quaritch) there is a somewhat similar receipt
for a “Hawke that hath lost her courage and ioyeth not, or is lowe in
flesh.” For “turning tayle” and “to bring stomake,” _A Perfect Booke
for Kepinge of Sparhawkes or Goshawkes_ (written about 1575 and first
printed from the original MS. by J. E. Harting in 1886), says, “stepe
her meate in claret wyne and the yoke of an egg and nyp it drye and so
give it, and it will bring her stomake.”
[362] _Sawg͟hān kardan_, “to train for a race.”
[363] “I haue knowne some of them likewise that would sooner catche
a dogge in the field then a Partridge, and although she had flown
a Partridge very well to marke, and sat well, yet so soone as a
dog had but come in to the retroue, she would have had him by the
face.”—_Bert_, Chap. V.
[364] The translator’s experience is that passage goshawks are
particularly afraid of small children. Indian falconers account for
this by saying that the hawk mistakes children for its jungle-enemies
the monkeys.
[365] _Qizil-i āshiyānī_, “eyess goshawk:” _qizil_ is the local race
that breeds in Persia.
[366] _T̤ūla_ is a hound, or any sporting dog except a _tāzī_ or
greyhound: _sag_ (gen. term), any ordinary pariah or other breed of
dog: _sag-i īlātī_, “a dog of the breed kept by wandering tribes;” it
is large and fierce. _T̤ūla_ also means “a pup.”
[367] The author probably means that the hawk should chase till the
partridge puts in; that if she is fast and taught to take quarry
quickly in the air, she will acquire the habit of only doing so, and
will consequently give up whenever she sees that the quarry is fast
enough to take her to a distance.
[368] _Kabk u tīhū._
[369] In India geese and common cranes are, by means of a stalking
bullock, sometimes stalked while feeding, and thus taken by a goshawk.
[370] _Chāk͟hrūq_, “stone-plover.”
[371] _Bālābān_, “passage saker.”
[372] _Vide_ page 12, note 59.
[373] _Buldurchīn_ T. “The Common Quail.” _Anqūd_, “The Ruddy
Sheldrake.”
[374] _Qarqāvul_ (Phaseanus colchicus).
[375] _Durrāj_, the Francolin or Black Partridge of India.
[376] _Bi-yak sar du sar agar girift fa-bi-hā_: _sar_, “attack, stoop,
etc.”
[377] _Māt shudan_, is “to be astonished, perplexed; to become rigid
from astonishment:” the author applies this idiom more than once to
the goshawk, apparently in the last sense.
[378] Lieut.-Colonel E. Delmé Radcliffe states that a goshawk he
owned and sent to a friend afterwards killed grouse on the Scottish
moors. He also says that an exceptional goshawk tiercel he once had
took “storks, white-necked storks (M. episcopus), bar-headed geese
(A. indicus), sheldrakes (C. rutila), kestrels, rollers (C. indica),
white-eyed buzzards (Poliornis teesa), on one occasion a merlin (L.
chiquera), pigeons and other exceptional quarry without number,
and yet was in the constant habit of catching partridges and small
quarry;” (page 19).
[379] _Tu sīna-yi qūsh ra bar sīna-yi bād bi-dih._
[380] “To bind,” is to seize and hold on to the quarry, especially in
the air, while “to ruff” is to stoop at and hit the quarry, making the
feathers fly: _vide_ _Bibliotheca Accipitraria_, by Harting.
[381] _T̤arlān rā māya-dār az bulandī mī-andāzī._
[382] —_ki dimāg͟h-ash rā bi-bād dihad va rū bi-bād farār kunad_.
[383] _Nafas-i tāzī mī-sūzad._
[384] _Bālā-yi bād._
[385] _Garm bi-giriftan-i kabk u tīhū shud._
[386] _Mis̤l-i āb-k͟hurdan_, “as easy as drinking water.”
[387] _Sar-i dimāg͟h būdan_, “to be in the humour for, to be keen on.”
[388] “To fall at marke,” “to alight and there await the owner.”
[389] _Āb-k͟hur kardan._
[390] With a new hawk it is a good thing to attract her attention by
flicking the water in the cup with the finger.
[391] —_tā bi-istirāḥat ṣarf bi-kunad_.
[392] Place illegible.
[393] _Kabk-i darī_, Tetraogallus Caspius.
[394] —_galla-yi kabk-i darī ki bi-qadar-i bīst si dāna būdand_.
[395] _Dast-raw dar havā girift._
[396] _Qibla_ is the point to which Muslims turn in prayer. Applied to
the Shāh it signifies that he is one to whom all bear their requests.
CHAPTER XXX
“RECLAIMING”[400] THE PASSAGE SAKER
Should a passage falcon with “seeled”[401] eyes come into your
possession the first thing is to examine it carefully and classify it.
Having decided on the race to which the falcon belongs, fit her with
some suitable name such as _Ṣult̤ān_, _Ẓarg͟hām_, _Fāris_, _Shabīb_,
_Ḥabīb_, _Maḥbūb_, _Shahāb_, _Badrān_, etc.[402] Next fit her with
an old hood that is soft and easy, one that will not, by hurting her
eyes, make her hood-shy.[403] Let her eyes remain seeled under the
hood for three days. Every day when you feed her, call her name. On
the third or fourth day, _i.e._, as soon as she has learnt to feed
freely, which she will show by searching eagerly for food when you
mention her name, unseel her eyes about two hours to sunset, and then
rehood her. Call her name, and when she bends her hooded head in
search of food, give her a mouthful or two. Then stroke her on the
breast, the thighs, and the wings, and again remove the hood that she
may see daylight, and quickly replace it. Continue this treatment till
half an hour before sunset. Then set her down and leave her till
after the evening prayer.[404] Then again take her on the fist and
sit near the lamp, with your back to the wall, so that none may come
behind you and your hawk. Again call her name, and when she lowers
her head reward her with a mouthful. Stroke her as before. Carry her
thus for three or four hours. After that, set her on her perch for the
night, fastening the hood tight that she may not cast it during the
night.
[Illustration: XVI
ARAB FALCONER WITH YOUNG SAKER ON PADDED AND SPIKED PERCH]
Early next morning, before sunrise, take the hawk on your fist; sit
with a few friends near a lamp or a fire sipping your tea or coffee,
and perform your prayers. Every now and then remove the hood for
about five seconds, and then rehood. For about three days feed her
under the hood, calling her name. Now at early sunrise,[405] on the
morning of the third or fourth day, take just sufficient meat for one
meal; well wet your hawk under her wings,[406] wash her nostrils,
letting a little water enter them, and set her perch[407] in a quiet
place in the sun where none can disturb you, and seat yourself near
on the ground. Now remove the hood and handle her a little, stroking
her breast, head, and neck; then slowly carry your fist close to her
perch and induce her to step on to the perch of her own accord.[408]
Hold the leash in your hand, and occasionally draw it tight gently to
induce her to “rouse.”[409] She is sure, after one of these rousings,
to commence oiling her feathers.[410] When you see that she has
carried her beak to the oil-bottle[411] near her tail, preparatory to
oiling her feathers, you must sit absolutely still; do not pull the
leash; keep a guard even over the way you breathe, and let her oil her
feathers to her heart’s content.
If she oils her feathers very quickly and then rouses, it is a sign
she is well-manned.[412] If after oiling and rousing, she a second
time applies her beak to her oil-bottle, it is a sign that she is both
well-manned and well-plucked.
Let her remain on the perch a little longer while she preens[410]
and straightens[413] her feathers and again rouses with vigour.
Immediately she rouses, take in your hand the meat you have ready,
and calling her name, induce her to step on to your fist, and reward
her as before. Do this a third time, but this time try and induce her
to jump to your fist the length of her leash or less. Then call her
name and reward her by a good feed. Now hood her and place her on the
ground. Call her name and strike on the ground with your hand, in
front of her.[414] If she advances even two finger breadths towards
the sound, it is sufficient. Reward her by letting her pull and eat
two or three mouthfuls of meat, and while she is eating pull off the
hood and let her finish her meal and enjoy herself. She will by this
means learn that no one wishes to harm her, and that being tame is not
at all a bad thing. After feeding her take a small piece of wool, or
cotton-wool, and clean her nostrils.[415] Then fasten the braces of
the hood tight, and set her on her perch in the shade.[416]
FOOTNOTES:
[397] _Yak dāna._
[398] _Agar bi-dast raw qūsh girift fa-bi-hā._
[399] A _farsak͟h_ or _farsang_; “a parasang,” about 3¾ English miles.
The author uses the word merely to signify a long distance.
[400] “Reclaim,” to make a hawk tame, etc.
[401] _Chashm-dūk͟hta_, “with seeled eyes”: _vide_ page 14, note 70.
[402] _Ẓarg͟hām_ is one of the many Arabic words for a “lion”:
_Shabīb_, “of brilliant youth”: _Ḥabīb_ and _Maḥbūb_, “loved” and
“beloved”: _Shahāb_, “meteor”: _Badrān_, an old Persian word, seems to
mean “wicked.” All these names, however, are masculine.
[403] _Bad-kulāh_, “hood-shy.”
[404] The time limit for the evening prayer expires half an hour after
sunset.
[405] The author is probably writing of October in the vicinity of
either Bushire or Baghdad.
[406] Presumably as in India, water would be blown in a spray out of
the mouth and with force, the falconer’s hand being raised and lowered
to make the falcon expand her wings and expose the soft feathers
underneath. The outer feathers are so arranged as to be a protection
against rain, and it is not easy to soak them.
[407] The perch would probably be of the Arab pattern and consist of a
pad on an iron spike; _vide_ page 95.
[408] Hawks, even those that have never yet been unhooded since they
were caught, know their own perches and have preferences.
[409] “To rouse”; said of a hawk when she makes her feathers stand on
end and then shakes herself violently.
[410] _Rūg͟han-kashī_ or _rūg͟han-gīrī kardan_, “to oil the feathers.”
_Par-k͟hūn_ or _par-kashī kardan_, “to preen and straighten the
feathers.”
[411] _Mudhun_, “oil-bottle,” called in the _Boke of St. Albans_ the
“note” (nut?).
[412] “To man” a hawk is to make it tame and accustomed to the
presence of human beings.
[413] _K͟hadang kardan_, _lit._ “to make straight like an arrow.”
According to the _Boke of St. Albans_ a hawk “reformith” her feathers
when she straightens them without oiling them.
[414] In the Kapurthala State, sakers that were to be entered to kite
were trained in this manner. The hawk, excited by being fed, was
hooded and placed on the ground. Then, the lure being banged on the
ground, it was taught to snatch at it (in the dark), and rewarded when
it “bound” to the lure. The first live kite given as a “train” was
presented to it in this manner, _i.e._, the hooded hawk was induced
to “bind” to it as to the lure and was duly rewarded. The hood was
then removed and perhaps a little more meat presented through the
kite’s feathers. The kite was then forcibly removed and thrown to the
distance of one or two feet, and as soon as the hawk bound to it, it
was fed up on a fresh warm bird. The eyes of the kite were seeled, its
claws tied up, and a string was of course fastened to its leg.
[415] A tame hawk’s nostrils get choked up with blood and dust.
Eastern falconers are generally particular about keeping the nostrils
clean. One of the advantages of “tiring” is that it induces a flow
of water that keeps the nostrils clean. “‘Tiring,’ _s._, any tough
piece (as the leg of a fowl with little on it) given to a hawk when
in training to pull at, in order to prolong the meal and exercise the
muscles of the back and neck.”—_Harting._
[416] The mid-day sun would be too powerful at that time of the year.
CHAPTER XXXI
ANECDOTES OF A BAGHDAD FALCONER
ANECDOTES OF A BAGHDAD FALCONER.—There is a well-known story of a
famous falconer of Baghdad, named _Sayyid Adham_. For a long time he
was blessed with no offspring, but at length the Lord of the World
bestowed on him one son. At the time of our story, the boy had arrived
at the age of two years, and had conceived a great affection and
fascination for a certain _bālābān_, the property of his father.
A hawk-catcher[417] had captured a fine _bālābān-i aḥmar-i shāmī_,
a young passage falcon, and had carried it as a “present”[418] to
_Dā,ūd_, the Pasha of Baghdad.
_Sayyid Adham_, the Grand Falconer,[419] was summoned and the hawk
made over to him with directions to train it to gazelle. He took it to
his home, named it “Meteor,” and unseeled its eyes on the third day.
In the morning, he was seated at the edge of the sunshine,[420] his
new hawk preening her feathers, etc., in the manner I have just
described. He was, of course, watchful that his unmanned hawk should
not be suddenly scared; for you must know that, should a new hawk
be suddenly scared, it is difficult to efface from her memory[421]
the remembrance of the fright, and she is perhaps spoilt for ever
after. While the hawk was engaged in her preening, _Sayyid Adham_ was
suddenly horrified to see his small two-year-old son toddling towards
him. Quietly intervening himself between the boy and the hawk he
beckoned to the former to come to him. As soon as the child came up to
him, he deftly took his head under his arm and kept it there till the
hawk, having finished her toilet, was fed and rehooded. He released
his son and found that the poor child had been suffocated:—
To save his hawk from starting in alarm
He seized the child and thrust him ’neath his arm,
And pressing tight and tighter in his dread,
He killed the boy by crushing up his head.
Though I myself never saw the _Sayyid_,[422] I was well acquainted
with his immediate descendants. In training _bālābān_ to gazelle they
had no equal, and were justly proud of their skill. They used to pride
themselves on the incident narrated above as being a proof of their
father’s devotion to sport.
BET WITH THE PASHA.—It is also well known that _Sayyid Adham_ once
laid a wager with the Pasha of Baghdad that he would, within twelve
days, fly at gazelle, with success, a certain newly caught _bālābān_.
He did so; on the twelfth day, in the presence of the Pasha, the
_bālābān_ took its first gazelle in noble style, and the _Sayyid_ his
wager. Only a falconer knows the difficulty of taking a wild gazelle
with a passage falcon _within twelve days of its capture_.[423]
Concerning these two matters God is the Knower[424]—but all the old
men[425] of Baghdad bore constant testimony to their truth.
FOOTNOTES:
[417] _Ṣayyād_, Ar., as comprehensive a word as _shikārchī_; _vide_
page 54, note 216.
[418] _Pīshkash_, “present,” a polite word for “sale.” The Pasha would
give him a “present” in return. Such is the etiquette.
[419] _Qūsh-chī Bāshī._
[420] _Bar-i āftāb_, _i.e._, in the shade (or half in the shade), but
close to the sunshine.
[421] “... And thereby catch some sudden fear, which at the first you
ought to be careful to prevent, for it is hard to work that out again
which she is suffered to take at the first, and most commonly she will
be subject to it ever after, whether it be good or evil.”—_Latham._
CHAPTER XXXII
TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO GAZELLE[426]
TRAINING THE PASSAGE SAKER TO GAZELLE.—Procure the head of a
freshly-killed gazelle. Excite your hawk’s appetite by calling her
name, and then remove her hood that she may instantly jump from your
fist to the head. Let her tear off and eat two or three mouthfuls of
flesh; then seize the gazelle-head and agitate it, so that the excited
and hungry hawk may “bind” the tighter. After this let her feed a
little. You must practise her daily in this manner, twice or thrice by
day, and twice by night. Each morning set aside the exact amount of
meat that she should receive in the twenty-four hours, and feed her
from that, otherwise in the irregular feedings you will lose count
of the quantity she has eaten, and will in consequence overfeed her.
After making her play with the head, and after giving her to eat the
quantity fixed for her, remove her, and hood her, and carry her off to
the bazar.[427]
In the bazar sit in some spot with your hawk’s back to the wall,
so that nothing can come behind her. Now remove her hood that, by
viewing the varied throng of men and horses, she may rid her of her
natural fear. Nay, more than this; you must give your man a bit of
meat the size of a pea and let him, as he passes, hand it to her, so
that she may look with the eye of expectation at each passer-by and
say to herself, “Here comes some one with meat for me.” Now hood her
and “carry” her. Never for one moment let her be off the fist.[428]
The Old Masters have ruled that the falconer may, when seated on the
ground, place his hawk on the point of his knee,[429] but that with
this exception she must know no other perch than his fist. Great
stress have they laid on the observance of this rule: “Break it,” they
have said, “and let your hawk go wild.” Do thou act likewise, my son,
and keep thy hawk ever on thy fist. During the twenty-four hours, she
will indeed get four or five hours’ sleep.[430]
[Illustration: XVII
YOUNG GAZELLE]
An hour after nightfall, make her as before “play” with the deer’s
head. Do this by lamp light and while in the company of your friends.
Let her eat on the head a little meat, a quantity about the size of
a filbert. Then take her up and carry her. At one time unhood her and
place her on her perch in front of you; at another shake her jesses
to arouse her and induce her to “rouse,” and look about, and take
notice. Now after her preening, hood her and take her on the fist.
Anon call her name while she is hooded, and reward her response by a
morsel of meat, so that she may thus learn to connect her name with
food. In short, you must till four hours after nightfall, keep her on
your fist or on your knee, in a crowded room where people come and
go continually.[431] Just before you retire for the night take her
up, carry her near a lamp and make her play with the gazelle-head,
agitating it well. If the head has no meat on it, have a few small
bits of other meat ready, and place them on the gazelle’s eyes in such
a manner that the hawk may of her own accord pull out the meat and
eat it. Hood her while she is still “binding” to the head, and draw
tight the braces[432] of the hood, so that there is no possibility
of the hood coming off during the night; then remove her and replace
her on her perch, and leave her for the night. The remembrance of the
gazelle-head and of her food will remain in her mind, and keep her
keen and excited for another hour. She will not sleep at all, or if
she does, it will not be for more than two hours.
Rise at daybreak[433] and take her on your fist, for she must not be
allowed to even try to “cast”[434] while her hood is on, and if she be
hindered from casting she will fall sick. Hence trouble yourself and
relieve her.
To comfort friends, discomfort do not dread:
Strive that the good call blessings on thy head.
[The author here cites some copy-book maxims on early rising: these
are not translated.] ... Lastly, by early rising you will be in the
field before the eagles are on their prowls.[435]
After she has “cast,” proceed to feed her on the head, and to “carry”
her in the bazaar, etc., etc., as on the previous day; and continue
this treatment till she is thoroughly trained to the gazelle-head.
Now as soon as she thoroughly understands and is keen on the gazelle’s
head, procure a live fawn and bind firmly to one of its hind[436] legs
an iron ring; then take a fine strong cord about twelve yards[437]
long, pass one end through this ring and tie it to the opposite
foreleg.[436] Next, with fine cord, bind between the fawn’s ears a
lump of tough meat, one to two pounds[438] in weight.
In the morning call your hawk first to the dead head as before,
agitating it well, etc., and hood her on the head. Now produce the
live fawn and make it lie down. Call your hawk by name and then remove
her hood. In accordance with her daily and nightly teaching she will
at once “bind” to the meat on the fawn’s head.[439] You must instruct
your assistant, who has hold of the fawn’s tether, to hold his hand
high, so that the fawn cannot toss or shake its head. Let your hawk
tear a mouthful or two of meat and then remove her. Let her fly and
“bind” to the meat on the fawn’s head a second time, and let her eat a
little of it. Then hood her and remove her, and handle her, etc. (You
must so feed her that she will be fit by the evening to be again flown
at the dead head and the live fawn.) Now carry her to the house and
wash her nostrils with a little luke-warm water. Remove her hood and
let her preen and rouse till evening.
In the evening repeat the morning’s lesson and do this for three
days. On the second and third day, however, after making the fawn lie
down, you must get your assistant to drag it slowly in this position
on the ground. Then while it is moving you must fly her at it, at the
“crouching” fawn.
On the fourth day you must fly her at the fawn standing. First call
her, in the morning, to the dead head and play with it, etc., etc., as
on previous occasions. Now place the duly prepared fawn in a standing
position in front of you. Fly your hawk at it as before, but instruct
your assistant that the moment the hawk “binds” he must pull the cord
and cast the fawn. Repeat this lesson in the evening.
You must be careful during these lessons that you do not overfeed your
hawk and make her too fat. To avoid such an accident, you must, each
morning, weigh and put aside the exact quantity of meat she is to be
given during the day. As for the meat on the fawn’s head, it must be
so tough that your hawk can only, with difficulty and delay, tear off
and swallow a small mouthful: on no account must it be the tender meat
from the backbone.[440]
In short you must first fly your hawk three days in the manner
described, _i.e._, at the “crouching” gazelle, and then three days at
the standing gazelle. Next you must fly her three days at the gazelle
in motion, its head being still garnished with meat. The moment the
hawk “binds,” the cord must be pulled and the gazelle made to fall.
Fly her twice in the morning and twice in the evening.
Next, after this nine days’ training, you must instruct your assistant
to drive the deer in front of him at a quickened pace, he himself
running behind. When the gazelle is about twenty paces distant, you
must let go your hawk. As soon as the hawk reaches and “binds,” your
assistant must pull the cord and cast the gazelle as before. Give the
hawk a little meat, hood her, remove her, and then fly her a second
time from a rather longer distance; feed her on the head, hood and
remove her; but you must not give her so much meat that she will not
be fit to fly again in the evening. For three days you must fly her at
the driven fawn, in the manner just described; but every day increase,
by twenty paces, the distance from which she is cast off at the fawn.
Now, during this twelve days’ training, you must gradually decrease
the size of the lump of meat that is bound on to the live fawn’s head,
so that at last no meat is visible, _i.e._, you must bind on the
fawn’s head only a small bit of dry hard meat the size of a filbert,
or a portion of the dried neck of a chicken.
You must next, taking the same poor fawn that you have been using all
along as a “train,”[441] go out into the open country. The tether must
be removed from the fawn’s leg, and the fawn must be in the keeping
of your falconer, who should be mounted, and at a distance from you
of say a hundred paces. First you must call your hawk to the same old
dead and dried gazelle-head, agitating it well as before. While your
hawk is “binding” to it in a state of hungry excitement, rehood her.
With you there must be a quiet and obedient greyhound. Now order your
mounted falconer to release the fawn _with its head to the wind_, and
to gallop after it. You, having meanwhile mounted, must now unhood the
hawk.
Now at this point there is an accident to be guarded against, an
accident that often happens at this stage of the training. A plucky
impetuous hawk, suddenly unhooded, may in her excitement bind to the
head of the horse[442] on which you are mounted; therefore you must
keep your eyes fixed on those of the falcon, and release her only when
you perceive that she has spied the fawn and intends flying at it.[443]
As soon as the falcon has ten yards’ start of you, slip the
greyhound[444] after her. The falcon will arrive, stoop at and bind
to the fawn’s head, and the greyhound will come up and pull down the
fawn. You must make in, secure the fawn’s legs, and cut its throat.
Let your falcon tear the eyes and tongue a little (for that small
bit of dried flesh on the head contains no reward), and then cut the
fawn’s throat and feed her up.[445] Give her only such a quantity of
flesh that at sunset she will still have in her crop[446] a quantity
of meat the size of a walnut. Hood your falcon and return home.
The dead gazelle should be tied under the belly of a horse, and while
riding home have the horse led in front of you. Twice, on the way,
remove the hawk’s hood that she may view the gazelle and recognize
that that was her quarry, and that from the flesh of that quarry she
was fed.[447]
When you reach home, with warm water cleanse your falcon’s nostrils
from blood, and wash off any blood stains from her feathers. Unhood
her and let her “rouse and preen.” After her preening, take her up,
hood her, and carry her till sunset. (You must now no longer call her
in the evening to the dead gazelle’s head as on former evenings, for
her training is near its completion.) Then set her down[448] and let
her rest till the morning.
Now, before dawn, take her up so that she may cast while on your fist.
Take a _sīr_[449] or less of good lamb and wash it well in warm water
until it becomes bloodless and white. To-day the hawk need not be
lured or called: she should be fed on her perch. If your hawk is fat,
give her at sunset, as a “casting,” a little lamb’s wool well wetted:
if lean, give her chicken feathers, or a little of the skin and fur of
a gazelle. To-night, too, let her rest on her perch.
At dawn take her up, so that she may cast on your fist. About an hour
after dawn, go out into the open country, taking with you a couple of
quiet trusty greyhounds, as well as a brisk and lively gazelle. As
before, call the hawk to the dead gazelle-head, agitating it as on
previous occasions, etc., etc. The live gazelle should be released at
a distance of five hundred paces, your assistant falconer galloping
after it as before. The hawk should next be unhooded and cast off, and
when she has flown about ten yards, the greyhounds should be slipped.
The hawk will reach the gazelle and make one or two stoops before the
greyhounds arrive and pull down the gazelle. You must make in quickly
and secure the hind legs of the gazelle, so that the falcon, which
will have bound to the gazelle-head, may blood herself well on its
head and eyes.[450] Then, cut the gazelle’s throat and feed the hawk,
giving her just so much food as will leave a quantity the size of a
walnut still in her crop[451] at sunset. Her nostrils, etc., must be
cleansed as before.
It is no longer necessary to keep the hawk hooded at night. Let her
sleep unhooded.
You must now carry the hawk till two hours after nightfall and then
set her down to rest.[452]
Take note of your hawk’s action when flown at these last two gazelles.
If she makes three or four stoops at the head before binding, it is a
sign that she has risen too much in condition: if she makes no stoop,
but binds immediately on reaching, it is a sign that she is somewhat
low in condition: if she makes one stoop only, or two stoops, and then
binds, she is in her proper condition. Now if she be too fat, you
must, by feeding her for two days on washed meat, lower her condition.
If she be too low, you must fly her for two more days at a live
gazelle, cast on the ground as on the first day, and as soon as she
binds, you must stealthily substitute a freshly-slaughtered white lamb
or white kid: or failing these a white chicken, placing the flesh of
the chicken’s breast over the gazelle’s head. Feed up your hawk on the
warm flesh. In two days she will regain her condition.
On the following day, again give washed meat[453] in the manner
described above. On the day after, fly her at a gazelle that is as
stout and brisk as a wild one. For this go into the open country as
before, and first call your hawk to the head of the dead gazelle,
agitating it as on previous occasions, etc., etc. This time the
gazelle must be freed at a distance of a thousand yards, and your
assistant must gallop after it. Cast off your hawk, and when she has
got a start of ten or fifteen yards, slip the greyhounds, and gallop.
Your hawk will make one or two stoops before the greyhounds arrive to
pull down the gazelle. Make in, cut the gazelle’s throat, feed the
hawk, and treat her in other respects as before.
On the day after this she must be keenly “set” by being given
well-washed meat. At sunset give her a casting of feathers. On the
following morning start from your house about two hours before dawn,
and let your hawk throw up her casting while you are on your way
to your destination. Repeating the four _Qul_ and the verse of the
Throne,[454] breathe the sacred words over yourself and over your hawk.
You must early that morning mark down a single half-tame gazelle.[455]
After marking it down, call your falcon to the dead gazelle-head and
agitate, etc., etc., as before. Then rehood her and go after the wild
gazelle. The nearer you get to it the better. Unhood the falcon, and
as soon as she spies the gazelle and shows an inclination to give
chase, cast her off and shortly after slip the greyhounds.
Most probably you are wondering why you should not first slip the
greyhounds and then cast off the falcon behind them. Now in this
thought you err, for your falcon is probably full of courage and
eagerness, and her training has so excited her that she might bind to
a greyhound instead of to the gazelle, and so be spoilt for ever. For
this reason you must first, _when there is nothing ahead of her but
the gazelle_, cast off your hawk; and if it please God, with the help
of the hounds, she will take it.
On no account must you, this first day, fly your hawk at two gazelle
in company. You must either fly her at a single gazelle or at three
together. Doubtless you wonder why you can cast her off at three
gazelle but not at two? Let me explain.
Two gazelle together will be either two fawns that have grown up
together after their dam has been destroyed by some accident, or
else a couple, male and female; or possibly they may be dam and
young; in any case domestic affection will prevent them separating.
Your hawk, being still raw and inexperienced,[456] or rather quite
ignorant,[457] will stoop, first at one and then at the other, while
the greyhounds, being trained and experienced, will chop and change,
always making for the gazelle at which the hawk stoops. Your hounds,
tired out, will fall behind and “get left,” and the hawk, without
their assistance being unable to take the deer, will get lost. Should
you happen to regain sight of her, you will find it difficult to lure
her; if successful in luring her, the labour of twenty days will have
been lost. However, a single gazelle by itself is the same as the
hand-train[458] that you have all along been training her to, and this
whether it be a male or a female. If there are three gazelle together,
your falcon will single out[459] one and stoop at it; and as soon as
she does so, the remaining two will make off together in company,
while the greyhounds will only follow the single remaining gazelle at
which your hawk is stooping. Now be warned and do as I tell you.
Should the gazelle be taken, feed her up, etc., as on previous
occasions and return home. Should, however, any accident happen;
should your falcon get tired out and the greyhounds get “left,” or
should an eagle appear, then act as before; or if you have the carcass
of a gazelle with you, cast your falcon at its head and give her a
very light meal, together with a “casting” from the skin; feed her
so that she will “cast” early the following morning. If it please
God she will not fail next morning. Should she, however, be again
unsuccessful, you must feed her up well and let her rest for two or
for three days.
On the third day, feed her on the head of a live gazelle, giving her
only a light meal. On the fourth day, fly her in the open country at a
single bright and active[460] gazelle, but so act that she cannot tell
that the gazelle is not a wild one. Kill the gazelle under her and act
as before.
The next day “set” her by giving her washed meat, and the day after
fly her at a wild gazelle. She certainly—please God—will not fail.
FOOTNOTES:
[422] A Sayyid is a descendant of the Prophet.
[423] Had the falcon been netted (and its eyes seeled) some days
before its twelve days’ education commenced, the matter would have
been much simpler. Even though a hawk be not carried nor handled, the
mere fact of having its eyes seeled has a quieting effect. It learns
to eat from the fist, becomes accustomed to human voices, and loses a
little of its high jungle condition.
[424] _Vide_ note 78, page 17.
[425] _Kummalīn_, “old men, elders,” double Arabic plural of _kāmil_:
inadmissible in Arabic and incorrect in Persian: perhaps a misprint
for _akmalīn_.
[426] H.H. the late _Mir ʿAlī Murād_ of Sindh used, at one time, to
train _lagaṛ_ falcons to ravine deer, but with what success I cannot
say. He afterwards, for this flight, abandoned _lagaṛs_ in favour of
passage _charg͟hs_.
[427] In Urdu this is called _bāzār kī mār_.
[428] In the East, hawks, even when fully trained, are daily “carried”
in the bazar. Keeping hawks unhooded on a block is a western practice
that does away with the necessity for a certain amount of carriage.
Most hawks, however, even “intermewed” hawks, are the better for much
“carriage.”
[429] In this Eastern attitude the hawk is nearly on a level with, and
is close to, the face of the falconer.
[430] Birds need but little sleep.
[431] In a Persian _majlis_, servants would constantly be coming and
going with pipes and sherbet and coffee in the large bare room. In
addition to friends and relations, there would be all the servants of
these friends and relations.
[432] The Persian, unlike the Indian, hood, is opened and loosened by
straps at the back.
[433] As the hawk was irregularly fed the previous day she would
probably “cast” late. As a rule sakers do not “cast” as early as
peregrines.
[434] _Ṣafrā_, Ar. “bile; the ‘casting’ of a hawk”: _t̤aʿmah_,
_lit._ “food,” also means “casting.” The Turkish for a “casting” is
_tuk-samik_, _i.e._, _tuk_, “feather,” and _samik_, “bone.” In a good
Indian hood, the beak aperture is so cut away that a hooded hawk can,
with a little difficulty, both eat and cast, but in the Persian hood
a hawk cannot open its beak sufficiently wide to give exit to the
casting.
[435] In the cold weather, eagles are late risers: they do not leave
their resting spots till the sun is warm. A peregrine will leave its
roosting place before it is light.
[436] _Pā_ or _pāy_ means any leg, but especially the hind leg. As the
fore leg is here called _qalam_ (shank), it is concluded the author
means, by _pā_, “hind leg.”
[437] _Dah zarʿ._ The Persian _zarʿ_ is about 40 inches.
[438] _Nīm sīr_, _yak sīr_: _vide_ page 106, note 449.
[439] In a Persian manuscript written in India, it is stated that a
goat may be substituted for the fawn, and that the head should be
protected by a piece of leather with two holes for the horns. _Vide_
also chapter XXXIV (page 122).
[440] _Gūsht-i pusht-i māza_, P.; this term occurs also in Arabic MSS.
on falconry.
[441] The ordinary word for a “train” (bird or beast) for a greyhound
or falcon is _bavlī_ or _bāvlī_, in India _bā,ūlī_. The present author
also uses _dast-par_ for a bird; and for a gazelle given as a “train”
_maraj_ and _dakl_: the last two words are probably Arab terms; I am,
however, unable to trace them.
[442] A young saker the translator had, the first time she was flown
at hubara, left his fist and bound to the head of a white pony about
twenty yards off. The pony spun round and round, till the rider, an
assistant falconer, fell off from giddiness.
[443] A hawk, suddenly and hurriedly unhooded, will leave the fist
before she spies anything at all. The hood should be removed quietly
without flurry; and if the hawk be raw it is often as well not to
release her at her first “bate.” From the expression of the hawk’s
eye it is quite easy to see if she has spied the quarry and means
business. Even if she started for the galloping assistant falconer,
the saker would spy the fawn on the way and divert her attention.
[444] _i.e._, of course a trained greyhound; one that would follow the
hawk.
[445] An unnecessary piece of cruelty. There is no reason why the
gazelle should not be instantly put out of pain.
[446] _i.e._, meat not yet “put over.”
[447] _Sīr shudan_, _lit._ “satiated.” Eastern falconers, however, do
not “gorge” their hawks. The author by the term _sīr shudan_ merely
means to give a hawk the regulation quantity.
[448] Hooded as before.
[449] _Sīr_; one Tabriz _man_ equals forty _sīr_; one _sīr_ equals
twenty _mis̤qāl_; and two and a half _mis̤qāl_ are about equal to an
Indian _tolā_. A Tabriz _man_ is about 7½ lbs. The Indian _ser_ is
about 2 lbs., and there are forty _ser_ in the _man_. The term _sīr_
is used only locally in Persia.
[450] _Vide_ note 445, page 106.
[451] _Bi-qadr-i girdū,ī gūsht dar sīna-ash bāshad._
[452] By that time she would have “put over” the whole of her food:
nothing would remain in the crop. A hawk, if carried, puts over more
quickly than if resting on the perch. It is an Indian saying that
“When carried instead of two mutings it makes three.” “Carrying”
of course includes frequent unhooding and rehooding and occasional
turnings of the hand to induce the hawk to shift her position.
[453] _Ishtihā dādan._
[454] _i.e._, chapters 109, 112, 113 and 114 of the Qurān. They are
very brief, not containing more than four or five lines, and all
commence with the word _Qul_ “Say.” These chapters are repeated at
weddings by the bridegroom, after the _Qāẓī_. Their efficacy is nearly
equal to that of the whole Qurān. The “Verse of the Throne” is the
256th verse of the 2nd chapter: it commences “God, there is no God but
He; the Living, the Abiding; slumber taketh him not nor sleep. His
throne reacheth over the heavens and the earth.”—_Vide_ also page 74.
_Āya rā damīdan_ (_dam karnā_ in Urdu): the sacred texts are repeated
and the breath is then exhaled on the breast and hands, etc., or over
a sick person.
[455] _Yak dānā āhū-yi ārām-i tāk-ī._ Probably _tākī_ is a slip for
_tak-ī_, “a single one.”
[456] _Qashm_, Ar., colloquially _g͟hashīm_, “inexperienced,
helpless”: though in common use in Baghdad, this word is not used in
Persian.
[457] _Na-dānam-kār._
[458] _Ahū-yi dastī._
[459] _Sivā kardan._
CHAPTER XXXIII
TRAINING THE EYESS SAKER TO EAGLES[461]
I will now, my pupil, describe to you the method of training the
nestling _chark͟h_[462] to eagles.[463]
In one point the nestling _chark͟h_ excels the rest of the black-eyed
race: it can take eagles, the rest cannot.[464]
When you first take the eyess from the eyrie, feed her well, that she
may grow fat and stout and strong, and may, by taking her quarry in
style, exhibit all her pride and power.
Now when the constellation of Canopus rises,[465] take her up, hood
her and carry her: train her after the manner that falcons are always
trained, until she obeys the lure and comes to it readily from any
spot where she may be placed.
Now lower her condition a little: let her lose just a little flesh.
Procure a young Egyptian vulture[466] and bind some meat on its back.
Twice daily, in the cool of the morning and of the evening, show it
to her and then let it fly[467] in such a manner that your hawk may
take it. If you are unable to procure a young Egyptian vulture, get
a “black”[468] buzzard, or failing a black one a “yellow” one, but
in any case you must bind the hind claw[469] to the “tarsus.”[470]
Fly your hawk at this “train,” twice in the morning and twice in the
evening,[471] and feed her up on it.
Should you be able to procure a second “train” of any of the three
birds mentioned, then on the third day cut the throat of the first
“train.” Be careful, however, to conceal its head, for your hawk must
learn to bind only to the back. After killing the “train” and feeding
your hawk on the meat that is tied to its back, cut open the back, and
let your hawk eat a little of the exposed flesh.[472] She must not see
the flesh of any other part except the back. During these days that
you are entering your hawk to the “hand-train,”[473] as you increase
the distance at which you release the train, you must decrease the
amount of meat that is tied to its back, till at last no meat at all
is left and your hawk binds to the ungarnished back of the “train.”
The two[474] uppermost flight-feathers in each wing of the birds
mentioned above—the feathers called _yār māliq_ by the Turks[474]—are
broad and large. Take these feathers, two on each side, and placing
them on top of each other bind the garnishing meat to them, so that
the meat will be conspicuous during flight.
After you have killed the train and fed the hawk, you must, by giving
her washed meat,[475] “set” her as previously described. Then go out
into the open country and find a _young_ Egyptian vulture, which in
colouration resembles a young eagle, and fly your hawk at it. She will
surely take it.[476] Kill it and feed your hawk well.[477]
“Set” your hawk the next day; and the day after that, go out and find
a _būq-k͟hura_,[478] which has before been described as the most
ignoble of the eagles. Get close to it, and so cast off your hawk that
by the time the eagle has risen from the ground, your _chark͟h_ will
have reached it and bound to its back. With all haste make in and
secure the _būq-k͟hura_, and, killing a dark-coloured chicken, present
its flesh from underneath the wing of the _būq-k͟hura_, and so feed your
hawk; but feed her sparingly. Release the _būq-k͟hura_[479] from the
claws of the _chark͟h_ and keep it by you alive.
On the morrow when your hawk is hungry, go out into the open country.
Bind the hind claw of the _būq-k͟hura_ to its shank, and let it fly,
giving it a long start. Then unhood[480] and cast off your hawk. She
will certainly take it. Kill the _būq-k͟hura_ and feed the hawk.
Now again “set” your hawk and fly her at a wild _būq-k͟hura_, feeding
her up when she takes it. This you must do three or four times.[481]
Of one thing you must be careful: during these seven or eight days
that you are flying your hawk and feeding her on warm flesh, take care
that she does not become fat and get above herself.
After taking with her four or five _būq-k͟hura_, fly her at one of
the black eagles that have no spots or markings.[482] Next fly her at
a spotted _ā,īna-lī_ eagle. After she has taken one of the latter,
you can fly her at any species you choose. Should the eagle you are
going to fly her at be of a large species (such as the _karlak_, or
the _kūjīkān_, or the “moon-tailed eagle,” all three of which are the
largest of the eagle species), it can, by the cries and shouts of
your horsemen, be made so to lose its head as to become incapable of
defending itself.
Supposing, for instance, you spy an eagle seated on the ground
in a good open plain where there are neither small water-courses
nor hillocks[483]—a spot where you can gallop without caution or
delay—make the eagle face the wind[484] and gallop on to it,[485] and
placing your trust on Almighty God, cast off your _chark͟h_. The eagle
will see the hawk making for it but will not conceive the possibility
of the hawk’s attacking it, for, poor thing, it is ignorant of the
trickery of man. Calmly and leisurely it will spread its wings saying
to itself, “This _chark͟h_, whose dog is it that it should approach
me?”
If the eagle be a large strong female, it will certainly carry the
_chark͟h_ for about a thousand[486] paces, but if a weak tiercel it
will not drag it more than half that distance. You must gallop hard
and keep close up to or under the eagle, until it tires and settles on
the ground. It will then run, flapping and trailing its wings like a
hunted chicken that is tired out. You must all pursue it with shouts
and cries.
As soon as the eagle takes to running like a chicken, one horseman
must detach himself and intercept it in front. Now when that son of a
dog[487] sees that it cannot fly, that its path is blocked in front,
and that shouts and yells arise on all sides of it, it will have
no recollection of the _chark͟h_ that has fastened on to its back:
from rage and bewilderment it will drive its talons into the ground.
Now, my pupil, on no account must you treat this son of a dog like
other quarry. Do not in your excitement cast yourself upon it. On no
account! on no account do so—unless you seek your own destruction.
As soon as the eagle has convulsively clutched the ground, you must
dismount in all haste, and approaching it from behind firmly place
your long boot on its back just between the shoulders, and so render
it defenceless. Then cautiously advance your further hand from behind
it and firmly grasp its legs, keeping one leg on the eagle the while.
Then cut its throat, split open its breast, bring out the heart, and
feed your hawk. You must know that the flesh of eagles is greasy and
indigestible, so do not overfeed your hawk or she will fall ill.[488]
You must not imagine that an eagle’s flesh is the same as a pigeon’s;
so feed her lightly:—
If eagle’s flesh as pigeon’s ere appears
Then must you match the lion’s with the deer’s.
So when two eagle’s thighs have passed her beak,
Enough!—unless you her destruction seek.
The next time you go out, fly your hawk at any species of eagle you
like.
Now you must understand that although the hawk _does_, temporarily,
cripple the eagle, yet it is owing to the screams and yells of the
riding party that the eagle loses its wits and gets taken. If you want
to test this, fly your hawk at an eagle as though you were flying a
goshawk at a partridge, and ride slowly and quietly after the quarry.
Note how the eagle will with its foot sweep the hawk off its back
while exclaiming:—
“Thus does wise heaven grant sustenance to fools
That countless wise are filled thereat with wonder.”[489]
The awe and fear inspired by man is greater than that inspired by any
animal, and especially terrifying is the human voice. God has given to
all his creatures, birds, beasts, etc., a weapon of defence for their
safety, and man’s weapons are his voice and the dread his presence
inspires; every thing that creeps, or crawls, or flies, even the lion,
flees from the sound[490] and terror of man—how much more so the
eagle. The eagle is captured only by the artifice of the falconer: for
what sort of a dog is the _chark͟h_ to master the eagle?
The falconer by art and skill can show
That feeble _chark͟hs_ can lay great eagles low.
Untrained, untried, how could a falcon fight—
Fight and prevail against an eagle’s might?
This sport with the _chark͟h_ and eagle must be pursued in the plains:
in hilly country it is impossible.
EYESS SHAHIN AND EAGLES.—The eyess shahin is capable of being trained
to eagles, but as it is small and delicate, it is not employed for
this quarry.
FOOTNOTES:
[460] _Ziring_ or _zaring_, _i.e._, not half-starved or crushed in
spirit.
[461] The Rev. H. B. Tristram writing on the ornithology of North
Africa (_Ibis_ 1859) mentions “eagles, kites and sand-grouse” as
quarry flown at by the Arab Shaikhs. [Elsewhere the same writer
says that the Lanner and Barbary falcon are flown at sand-grouse.
No Indian falconer, however, has succeeded with the latter quarry:
it is too fast, and the hawk and quarry soon disappear from view.
The sand-grouse will not let the hawk get above it when the hawk is
“waiting on.” Mr. Tristram does not mention what device or artifice
the Arabs adopt.] The author of the _Land and the Book_ (W. M.
Thomson, D.D.) says of trained falcons, in chapter xxv, “they will
even bring down the largest eagle in the same way....”
[462] _Chark͟h-i āshiyānī._
[463] _Qara-qūsh._
[464] _Vide_, however, page 44.
[465] _Vide_ page 126, note 544.
[466] _Kachal charkas_ (or _karkas_), _lit._ “the scald-headed
vulture.” The young of this species is brown and not white.
[467] _Parānīdan_, “to cause to fly.” The author always uses this
word for showing a train to a hawk and then letting it fly. In the
preliminary lesson or lessons, one or two flight-feathers would
probably be tied together to make the train fly as slowly as possible,
and a creance would be fastened to a leg. _Vide_ note 414, page 97.
[468] _Vide_ chapter XII.
[469] _Qullāb_ or “hook” (for Ar. _kullāb_); the “talons” of old
falconers.
[470] The “stalke” of old authors.
[471] After the first flight the hawk would be given only a beakful or
two of meat.
[472] From the back she would get little more than a taste of warm
blood.
[473] _Dast-par._ It must be recollected that _sakers_ are not easily
spoilt by being given numerous trains, as are peregrines.
[474] On page 168, chap. LII, it is stated that there are _three_
feathers in each wing so named, and that it is the _Kurds_ who call
these feathers _yār māliq_. _Vide_ also chap. LX.
[475] _Ishtihā dādan._
[476] The Egyptian vulture is frequently found sitting on the ground
and will let a horseman or footman approach within a few feet. It
rises slowly, and as it does not shift from the stoop it is at once
taken. It does not seem to have any means of defence—except its odour.
[477] Of course on other flesh.
[478] On page 31 the _būq-k͟hura_ is described as an eagle always
found on marshes and reed beds. It eats frogs, dead fish, etc., and
occasionally a wounded duck.
[479] This should be done stealthily at the time the chicken is
substituted, or after the hawk has been re-hooded; for the hawk must
be induced to believe that it has eaten the quarry it captured. With a
thoroughly-made hawk no great stealth need be observed.
[480] _Rihā kardan_, “to release.” The author uses this word to
signify setting free a train secretly while the hawk is still hooded.
_Vide_ note 467, page 111.
[481] The “train” should not be allowed to get ragged. It should each
time be given a longer start. If it settles on the ground, it should
be allowed to look about it till it regains heart and takes wing of
its own accord. It is also well to go to a different spot each time.
[482] Apparently the black eagle described on page 31.
[483] _Māhūr_, any up and down ground.
[484] _Sīna-yi qara-qūsh rā bi-bād bi-dih_, “give the eagle’s breast
to the wind”; the author’s meaning is not quite clear. Presumably the
eagle would be sitting with its breast to the wind.
[485] From behind.
[486] The distance is probably exaggerated.
[487] _Pidar-sag_, a common term of abuse: used in much the same way
that b——y is by Thomas Atkins.
[488] _T̤uʿma-zada mī-shavad_: does this simply mean indigestion or
does it mean that the hawk will cast her gorge?
CHAPTER XXXIV
EYESS SAKER AND GAZELLE[491]
The system of training the nestling _chark͟h_[492] to gazelle differs
from that previously described for the passage saker.[493]
In the beginning of the Autumn you must, with your eyess, take a large
number of hubara bustard so that she may become adroit and lose her
rawness. As your hawk is a nestling and hence without any experience
whatever, you must, after getting her to kill one or two domestic
fowls, enter her by a train of a live hubara.[494]
You must first seel the hubara’s eyes, so that it may not puff itself
up and drive away the young hawk,[495] which might thereafter conceive
a permanent dread of this quarry. “Seel” the eyes of the train and let
it run[496] for about forty paces, and then cast off your _chark͟h_.
She will approach it stealthily[497] and seize it. As soon as she
seizes it, give her a small quantity of meat; remove her and rehood
her.
In the evening _slightly_ loosen the thread with which the hubara’s
eyes are seeled, so that it can just see out of the top of its
eyes.[498] When the _chark͟h_ flies towards the hubara, the latter,
spying her out of the tops of its eyes, will puff itself out for the
attack; but when the hawk arrives close and drops to the ground, she
will no longer be visible, and the hubara will therefore not charge
her. When the hawk seizes the hubara, again give her a small quantity
of meat.
On the next day unseel _half_ of the hubara’s eyes, so that at one
time it may puff itself out ready for attack, and at another lose
sight of its enemy. Let the hubara get some distance, and then unhood
the hawk and let her go. As soon as she binds to the hubara, cut its
throat and feed up the hawk.
On the next day give another “train” of hubara, but this time with
unseeled eyes. Let it get a long distance off before you unhood your
hawk. Kill it, and feed up the hawk on its flesh.
Although it is no feat for a falconer to take hubara[499] (for any
inferior hawk will kill this quarry), still in the training of the
eyess saker that is destined for gazelle, it has a special place, as
will be mentioned later. This remark, however, does not apply to the
netted passage falcon,[500] which has killed hubara for itself in a
wild state.
From the wild falcon,[501] an hubara, however stout and strong, cannot
possibly escape[502]; for what is the flight of an hubara compared to
that of the wild saker? Until the wild saker overtakes the hubara, she
will never relinquish the chase.
[Illustration: XVIII
YOUNG PASSAGE SAKER (LIGHT VARIETY) ON HUBARA]
If, however, you fly a _trained_ passage falcon at an hubara, it is
quite a different matter; for the falcon will not be in the same high
condition she was in when wild, and so, if the quarry breaks away from
her[503] and rises high, she will not be able to overtake it quickly:
neither will she be so thin that she will give up all desire and hope
of killing, and remain tamely seated on the ground. She will certainly
commence a stern-chase[504] and soon be lost to view. God knows
where she will overtake the hubara, whether two _farsak͟h_ off or
three.[505] Now in the first place you should not fly a passage saker
at hubara.[506] If, however, you must do so, tie together four of the
flight-feathers of one wing so that it shall fly clumsily, hugging
the ground. The hubara will certainly stand up to do battle and the
hawk will also certainly bind to it on the ground.[507] If the hubara
takes to flight, the hawk will follow only for a few yards, and seeing
itself utterly outpaced will give up and sit on the ground.
The nature of the eyess, however, is different. I have had many that
would take two or three eagles in a day, that would take crane and
gazelle, and were yet afraid of hubara. The reason of this was that I
omitted to seel the eyes of an hubara given as a “train”: the hubara
puffed itself up on seeing the _chark͟h_ coming towards it and got
ready for the attack; the _chark͟h_ hesitated and sat on the ground;
and the hubara seeing its hesitation became like a spitting[508]
cat, charged and put the _chark͟h_ to flight. God the All-knowing,
has bestowed on the hubara as a weapon of defence a peculiar kind of
“mutes;”[509] and although these are nothing in reality yet they have
a certain awe.
[Illustration: XIX
YOUNG PASSAGE SAKER (DARK VARIETY) ON HUBARA]
When the timid lamb-natured hubára’s enraged,
She becomes, in attack, like a lion uncaged.
If an eyess _chark͟h_ has once been frightened on the ground and
driven off by an hubara, nothing will ever induce her to take this
quarry on the ground. But a skilful falconer may cast off the
_chark͟h_ so expertly that she takes the quarry in the air within a
few yards’ distance.[510]
In short, as soon as your hawk is so thoroughly entered to hubara that
she will take six or seven in a day, you must go out and fly her at
as many hubara as you can, but do not feed her: even though you fly
her thirty times[511] with success, do not feed her. Go on flying her
till she is utterly disgusted and will not attempt even to follow the
quarry. As soon as you see this, bring up a gazelle fawn with meat
tied on its head, as previously described in the chapter on training
the passage saker. As soon as the _chark͟h_ binds to the gazelle’s
head, kill a fowl or a white pigeon, and feed her up so that she may
learn the pleasure to be derived from taking a gazelle.
You must proceed with the training of the eyess as you did with the
passage saker, but there are two or three points of difference. First:
if the passage hawk binds at the first or second entering, she must be
fed up; but the eyess must not be fed up, otherwise she will contract
a habit and will always have to be fed up. Second: if the eyess
follows the gazelle and works well but the greyhounds go wrong, she
will certainly, when worn out, sit down;[512] you must then and there
lure her and feed her up. Third: if the eyess works hard several times
but is disappointed, and so no longer follows gazelle with her former
zest, you must cure her as follows. Go and take two or three hubara
with her, one a day, and feed her up on them. On the third or fourth
day fly her at all the hubara you can without feeding her, till she
is worn out or disgusted. Then, as on the first day, fly her at the
gazelle’s head, feeding her up. After that let her rest for a day or
two. Next, take into the open country a gazelle fawn that is quick and
active, and secretly release it at a distance. After it set a dog, or
a young greyhound too slow to overtake it. When the gazelle fawn gets
to some distance, gallop after it and slip the greyhounds as you do
when hawking wild gazelle,[513] and cast off the _chark͟h_. When the
gazelle is taken, feed up the hawk as before, that she may learn the
advantage to be derived from taking this quarry and return to a liking
for it. The object of entering a _chark͟h_ to hubara is as has been
stated.
[Illustration: XX
HUBARA SUNNING ITSELF]
You may think to yourself, “I will fly my eyess at hare as has been
described for the passage hawk!”[514] Now, my pupil, on no account
must you do this; fly her not at hare, for this is error. First, the
nature of the passage hawk is noble, while the nature of the eyess is
ignoble. If, after the disappointment that your eyess has experienced
at gazelle, you fly her at hare with success, you must of necessity
feed her up; and as the gazelle and the hare are both ground-game[515]
and akin, your hawk will say to herself, “Why should I not henceforth
fly only the easier quarry? No stamped bond have I given to the Court
to wrestle[516] with that other kind of jackass!”[517] The hubara,
on the contrary, is not ground-game,[518] nor has the eyess in a
wild state preyed on it as has the passage hawk. By taking one or
two hubara, the eyess recovers her keenness and pluck, but, on the
third or fourth day, when she is overflown at hubara and unrewarded,
she gets disgusted with that particular quarry; being then flown at
a gazelle’s head and rewarded, she re-transfers her attention to
that quarry, and by being afterwards given an easy bagged fawn, her
affection for the quarry is cemented.
The system of training the _chark͟h_ and the _bālābān_ to gazelle is
this that has been described, and it is the system of the falconers
of Baghdad and of the Nomad Arabs, who are masters of this particular
sport. But the people of Turkistan and Khurasan and Buzhnurd,[519]
being unskilled, have a different system, and that, too, for the eyess
only; for they are quite unable to train the passage saker to take
even _one_ gazelle.
ANOTHER SYSTEM OF TRAINING THE “_Chark͟h_” TO GAZELLE.—Their system is
this. First they dig a dry canal about three or four ells[520] deep,
and four hundred or five hundred paces long. At the end, a recess or
chamber is constructed, sufficiently large to contain a gazelle that
is brought and confined there. A rope is tied to the gazelle’s leg,
and the gazelle is, step by step, driven and beaten so that it flees
to take refuge in this chamber at the farther end. This treatment
is continued till the beginning of Autumn, when the people commence
giving “trains”[521] to their eyess sakers.
The gazelle’s head is protected from the hawk’s claws[522] by a piece
of leather that has two holes to admit the horns, and on this leather
the meat is securely fastened. The gazelle, released in the canal at
the required distance from the chamber according to the progress the
young hawk has made, is obliged to run straight and take refuge in
its accustomed retreat. If, during the run, the _chark͟h_ binds to
the meat on its head, the rope is pulled and the _chark͟h_ fed up on
the “train’s” head. One gazelle can act as a “train”[523] for twenty
_chark͟h_.
As soon as these people have in this manner completed the training
and have killed the gazelle under the hawk, they, owing to their lack
of understanding, cast off four or five _chark͟h_ at a wild gazelle,
and slip five or six greyhounds. God knows whether they ever kill
anything. If they do, it is not skill; if they do not, it is utter
bungling.
If the hawks take the quarry no credit is due;
Their failure we must as incompetence view.
If you look at the methods of sport of these Turks
In everything bungling and botchery lurks.
Now the system of the falconers of _Bag͟hdād_, _Chaʿb_[524] and
_Muʿammara_[525] (in which places this ancient flight with the eyess
or passage saker was first “invented”) is wholly distinct and apart
from that of the Turkistānīs and K͟hurāsānīs; for the former, even at
a herd of two hundred gazelle, fly only a single _bālābān_ succoured
by a couple of greyhounds[526]; but so well trained and intelligent
are the hounds that even if a thousand gazelles come in front of them,
they will seize only that one at which the hawk is stooping.
The skill of these latter people, however, is confined to training
_chark͟h_ and _bālābān_ to gazelle, hubara, and hare, and they
practise no other flight. Skill is shown by practising every form of
sport.[527]
FOOTNOTES:
[489] From the _Gulistān_: Chapter I, St. 40.
[490] _Kavāzha_, in modern colloquial, “clamour.”
[491] The late Sirdār Sher ʿAlī, the exiled _Wālī_ of Qandahar, told
the translator that in Afghanistan he used to fly eyess _chark͟hs_ at
gazelle, and he considered those nestlings the best that were taken
from nests either on the ground or close to the ground. His theory
was that only bold birds dared to build close to the ground, and that
their nestlings were, from the egg, accustomed to the sight of jackals
and foxes.
[492] _Chark͟h-i āshiyānī._
[493] _Bālābān-i tūrī_: _tūrī_ from _tūr_, “net.”
[494] Passage sakers rarely, if ever, require to be given a “train”
for this quarry, as they kill it in a wild state.
[495] _Bād kardan._ An hubara will not hesitate to attack a hawk on
the ground, puffing itself up like a turkey cock and striking forwards
with its feet. Sometimes several will combine in showing front to the
enemy.
[496] The hubara will of course have a few flight-feathers plucked out
or tied, to prevent it flying. If many feathers are plucked out it
will not look formidable when it puffs itself out. _Vide_ note 499, page
117.
[497] _Bi-duzda raftan._
[498] _Chashm rā bālā-bīn kardan._
[499] Though the hubara is a large and powerful bird the wild saker
preys on it largely. The hubara is not a high-flying bird, and its
flesh is palatable. After killing one or two, the most cowardly
_chark͟h_ becomes wedded to this quarry. When giving a “train,” it is
preferable, in some cases imperative, to give a flying one. The saker,
however, takes to the hubara with little or no entering.
[500] _Bālābān-i tūrī._
[501] _Bālābān-i ṣaḥrā,ī._
[502] The author means by open flight, for the hubara frequently
escapes by doubling and hiding. It will squat on a perfectly open
plain, the pursuing hawk alighting within five or six feet of it
utterly puzzled as to what has become of its quarry. On the ground, an
hubara does not at first seem afraid of a single saker or peregrine.
[503] _Agar hubara jilav-i ū shikast va buland shud._
[504] _Lābud hubara rā dar jilo andāk͟hta ʿaqab mī-kunad._
[505] Sakers are passionately fond of the hubara as a quarry: they
will never relinquish a chase as long as there is any chance of
success: they will fly the hubara even when they are not very hungry.
The hubara, when put up with a hawk just behind it, flies faster
than is commonly supposed, especially in the Spring when it is fat
and in high condition. A passage saker intended for this quarry
should not, I think, weigh _less_ than 2 lbs. 4 oz. and should have
been brought into hard condition by being exercised twice daily
at the lure; twenty-five stoops at each exercise are sufficient.
A wild saker seldom exceeds 2 lbs. 8 oz. in weight. A haggard of
the editor’s that weighed when caught 2 lbs. 9½ oz., when killing
hubara weighed 2 lbs. 6½ oz. (For kite 2 lbs. 3 oz. will be found a
sufficient, and generally a suitable weight. For hare a weight of 2
lbs. is _sufficient_. Beginners should note these weights and so spare
themselves much disappointment.)
[506] Only passage sakers are, in India, flown at hubara. They are
usually flown out of the hood, but in districts full of ravines they
are trained to “wait on.” The author, like most natives of India
also, seems to think that hubara can be killed only on the ground.
As already mentioned in the above note, to fly houbara successfully
sakers must be in high condition, _i.e._, they must be kept well
exercised and well fed, a simple fact that most Eastern falconers
forget. I have seen Arab falconers stuffing their newly caught sakers
with _suet_ and skin. In _Arabia Deserta_ by C. M. Doughty we read,
“The Gate Arabs had robbed more than a dozen young falcons.... Their
diet was small desert vermin, lizards, rats, insects ... on finding
naught they maintain them with a little dough; in the nomad life they
pluck for them those monstrous bluish blood-sucker ticks which cleave
to the breasts of their camels.” The translator once gave a school-boy
a trained _lagaṛ_: when pocket-money and meat failed, the boy fed it
on boiled rice. Even after this treatment it flew and killed a wild
raven.
[507] Wild hawks seldom if ever kill on the ground. They stoop at the
hubara, knock it about and put it up. Many trained hawks even will
not, when in high condition, bind to an hubara on the ground but stoop
at it till the falconer flushes the quarry.
[508] _Burrāq shuda._ _Burrāq_ is the long-haired “Persian” cat;
_gurba_ is the general term for a cat.
[509] _Chalqūz_ or _chalg͟hūz_; excrement of birds only. “Mutes,” the
technical term for the droppings of hawks. When the hubara is feeding
on certain juicy crops, its excrement is thin and glutinous and has
an offensive odour. Though the excrement is ejected through fear, it
is a very effective weapon. A hawk that is smeared, is unable to fly
properly, possibly because the wind strikes cold through the damp
feathers. Some of the best hubara hawks, peregrines and sakers, always
bind to the wing, and so escape being buffeted or befouled.
[510] _Agar dast-i ustād-i k͟hūb bāshad dūr nīst dast-raw biyandāzī
dar havā bi-gīrad._
[511] _Sī dast._
[512] _Az k͟hastagī rū-yi rū nishasta ast_: exact meaning doubtful.
[513] _Ahū-yi ṣaḥrā,ī._
[514] The author has not mentioned this flight.
[515] _Charanda_, _lit._ “grazers.”
[516] _Du chār u du-lashma bi-shavam_: _lashm_ P. = smooth-bodied:
_du-lashma shudan_ is properly to wrestle together without either
opponent getting a good grip.
[517] _Bā hamchu narra khar-ī._
[518] _Az sink͟h-i charanda nīst_: _sink͟h_ in m. c. = _qism_.
[519] _Buzhnurd_, the capital of a district of the same name, is about
180 miles from the river Atrek, which flows into the south-east corner
of the Caspian.
[520] _Si chār yak zaraʿ_ (m. c.) “about 3 or 4 ells”; _zaraʿ_ (Pers.
for Ar. _zirāʿ_) is the Persian ell of about 40 inches.
[521] —_ki binā-yi marj u būlī kardan-i chark͟hā-yi shān ast_. The
word _būlī_ is also _bolī_, _bawlī_, _bavlī_ and _bāvlī_. _Vide_ also
note 523, page 123.
[522] _Mik͟hlab._
[523] _Dakl u bolī_, “train”; in note 521 on page 122 _marj u bolī_. The
author in a marginal note (page 117 of the text) gives _dast-par_ as
an equivalent for _dakl_. _Dast-par_ or “hand-flight” can, however,
refer only to a bird. _Bā,ūlī_ is, in India, a train given either to a
hawk or a greyhound, etc., etc.; it has a general application. _Vide_
also page 141, note 614.
[524] The _Chaʿb_ (properly _Kaʿb_) Arabs are a tribe inhabiting the
southern portion of _K͟huzistān_.
[525] _Muʿammara_: the writer must mean _Muḥammarah_ in K͟huzistān, 26
miles below _Baṣrah_: it is ruled by an Arab Sheikh.
[526] _Tāzi-yi qūsh-shinās_, a greyhound trained to hunt in company
with a hawk. _ʿĀrif_, “knowing, intelligent.”
[527] An ambiguous sentence in the original: it may mean “flying at
every kind of quarry.”
CHAPTER XXXV
ANOTHER METHOD OF TRAINING THE EYESS AND PASSAGE SAKERS TO GAZELLE
ANOTHER METHOD OF TRAINING _Chark͟h_ AND _Bālābān_ TO GAZELLE.—The
people of the _Fārs_ desert train the _chark͟h_ and _bālābān_ to
gazelle by another method. In the early Autumn when the passage
sakers are caught, they tame[528] one and lure it with the gazelle’s
head. When thoroughly entered to this lure,[529] they tie it up
in a dark place till its bones get set and strong, and its marrow
becomes black,[530] and the bird itself fills out and grows stout and
vigorous. Twenty days before the _Naw-rūz_[531] they take it up, and
every morning and every evening lure it,[532] etc., with the gazelle
head. Now in the hot climate of this desert, young gazelles are born
from between ten to fifteen days before the _Naw-rūz_ to ten to
fifteen days after it. A “train”[533] of a small fawn is given, and
the hawk is then flown in the desert at young fawns, which on account
of their small size[534] are easily taken, and she is so flown till
the young fawns begin to go about with their dams. After the _bālābān_
has taken seven or eight fawns, she will readily single out the young
fawn from the dam. When in this manner she has singled out and taken
seven or eight[535] fawn at foot, it is considered sufficient; the
weather, too, has grown too hot to go out into the country: the hawks
are therefore of necessity set down to moult.
After being taken up out of the moult, they are, next season, given
two or three “trains”[536] before being flown at a large wild gazelle.
If the falconer has the patience, this last method is, for the
following reasons, the best. First; the hawk, when taken out of the
moult, having not forgotten the six or seven fawns she killed in
the Spring, will, when flown in the Autumn, single out the smallest
quarry. Second; the long rest will have set and hardened her young
bones so that she will not be liable to get swollen feet.[537] Third;
she will have become domesticated, will have learnt wisdom, and will
not be liable to get lost.
Do not be in the least afraid that your hawk, having been entered to
fawns, will not tackle a horned buck[538] or a full-grown gazelle. If
she is keen, you can fly her at two or three bucks that happen to be
together without a female. These three bucks have not been cast in one
mould: one is certain to be rather smaller than the others, and this
one your hawk will single out. If you find a _single_ buck, let it be
even as big as the foal of an ass, she will tackle it all right. But
if, one day, you fly her at an old buck, and the hounds not arriving
she wears herself out and gets jostled or injured, you may rest
assured that in the second moult she will not tackle an _old buck_.
She will still, however, take does, or small young bucks that are only
one or two years old.
A _bālābān_ that has been trained by this last method is certainly
better than one trained by either of the preceding methods.
FOOTNOTES:
[528] _Rām kardan_, “to tame, to man.”
[529] _Baʿd az garm-i t̤alab shudan._
[530] —_t̤ā īnki mag͟hz-i ustuk͟hwān-ash siyāh bi-shavad_; an unusual
idiom.
[531] _Naw-rūz_, the Persian New Year’s Day about the 21st March.
[532] “And make it play with the head:” _bāzī mī-dihand_.
[533] _Dakl._
[534] I know of two instances in India of a saker trained to hare
taking a very small fawn of a “black buck.”
[535] The author (_vide_ next paragraph but one) means seven or eight
altogether.
[536] _Bi-qānūn-i maẕkūr du si āhū barā-yash mī-kushand._
CHAPTER XXXVI
TRAINING THE “_SHĀHĪN_”[539]
Now, my son, let me instruct thee in the training of the _Shāhīn_ so
that thy falcon may in the field excel those of other sportsmen, and
thou thyself be acknowledged a master. First, thou must thyself be a
_shāhīn_, and thy horse, too, must be like one.
Falconers have compared the _Shāhīn_ to a rifle bullet, and what an
expert marksman expects from his weapon you must expect from your
falcon; she must not miss when cast at quarry within her compass.
Now know that the nature of the _Shāhīn_ somewhat resembles that of
the Goshawks; it does not require many “hand-birds” and “trains.”[540]
Amongst falcons[541] it is the hero.
Should a young[542] _shāhīn_ come into your possession, set her
on a perch, and feed and fatten her[543] up till the rising of
Canopus.[544] Then slightly reduce her food for a day or two, just
enough to induce her to step off her perch on to your fist. About
half an hour after dark, fit her with a soft part-worn hood[545] that
cannot, by hurting her, make her hood-shy; for hood-shyness, in a
_shāhīn_, is a vice that can, by no manner of means, be cured.[546] If
the back of the hood be too tight, her ears will be hurt, and she will
develop the incurable disease of “ear-ache.”
Every half hour or so, unhood her near the lamp, stroke her on the
head and breast, and then replace her on the perch. Then again take
her up and hood her, and continue doing this for three or four hours.
After that remove her hood and place her on her perch in the place
that she is accustomed to sleep in every night. Early next morning
take her up, hood her, and give her a small quantity of meat washed in
warm water, and then set her on her perch till mid-day. After mid-day
take her on the fist and carry her in the shade. At sun-down give her
a few pigeon’s or chicken’s feathers washed in warm water, so that
she may “cast” early and rid herself of glut and slime.[547] As soon
as she has lost some flesh, procure a lure made of the wings of a
common crane, and firmly bind a piece of meat on to it. If she jumps
to this from the falconer’s fist, even the length of her jesses, it is
sufficient.
It is not necessary to teach the _shāhīn_ or the eyess saker to
recognize its name.[548] Especially is such teaching improper in the
case of the passage _shāhīn_; for if you have taught the latter to
know its name like a passage saker, and should call her by it when
she is hooded, she will make her carrier impotent by tearing at
his glove,[549] or by “bating,” or hanging head downwards with her
claws convulsively fixed in his glove. It is sufficient to teach the
_shāhīn_ to come to the luring cry of _coo coo_.[550]
[Illustration: XXI
STONE-PLOVER]
Now as soon as she is thoroughly trained to the lure of crane’s
wings, _i.e._, as soon as she will come eagerly and unhesitatingly to
it from the falconer’s fist the moment that it is swung, you must, in
the following manner, give her one or two live chickens on the lure.
As soon as the hawk binds to the lure, insert the head and neck of the
chicken through the wings of the lure, and let the hawk grasp it in
her claws. Then, cut the chicken’s throat and feed up the hawk. Give
her several chickens in this manner, one in the morning and one in the
evening. In the morning, take care that your hawk eats no feathers
with her meat, but in the evening give her a “casting” of feathers.
Recollect, too, that the higher the condition in which you train and
enter a _shāhīn_ the better.
The next step is to fly your _shāhīn_ at a blue rock[551] with eyes
partially “seeled” so that it can see out of the top only of the eyes.
Go out into the open country; show the pigeon to the hawk and then let
it fly. When the pigeon has got away a little distance, cast off your
_shāhīn_ so that she may take the pigeon in the air. Cut the pigeon’s
throat and feed up the hawk, giving her sufficient food to last her
for twenty-four hours. Then carry her home, and with warm water wash
away any blood stains, and also carefully cleanse her nostrils from
congealed blood. Give her two or three pigeons in this manner.
You must now mark down a “little-owl”[552] somewhere in open country
where there are no wells near. Unhood your hawk and walk up towards
the owl. As soon as it is on the wing and your hawk shows an
inclination to give chase, let her go. If she takes the owl, feed her
up. If, however, the owl gets into a hole, quickly cast the lure to
your hawk and let her take it: _on no account let her settle on the
ground_, for settling on the ground is in a _shāhīn_ an odious vice.
If the _Shāhīn_ when settled on the ground
Be gorged with delicate and dainty fare
’Twere surely then beyond all reason’s bound,
To hope she’ll take a quarry in the air.
Hood the hawk on the lure and feed her. Now go and pull the owl out of
its hiding place and put it in your falconer’s bag for the evening. In
the evening—provided your hawk has not been given too much food in the
morning—mount your horse and go out into the open plain, to a place
where there are neither holes nor wells. Unhood the _shāhīn_; let her
see the owl and then let the owl fly. When it has flown about twenty
yards, cast off the hawk. She is certain to take it. Kill the owl and
feed up the hawk. You must now fly and kill with her two or three of
these “little-owls.”
[Illustration: XXII
HERON STRUCK DOWN BY PEREGRINE (PHOTO TAKEN JUST BEFORE THE HERON
TOUCHED THE GROUND)]
The next thing to do is to fly her at a stone-plover.[553] You
must cast her off with her breast to the wind, and then cut off the
plover so that it squats on the ground.[554] If she takes it, feed
her up on other food, saving the plover alive for another day in
case of accident, for you must not let your hawk’s success make you
overconfident. If she fail to take it, lure her and feed her.
If you have a made hawk, it is better to unhood her at the plover
first, to show the youngster the way.
Here let me give you a word of caution. Should your _shāhīn_ fail to
kill, on no account must you in luring her back release the bagged
plover as she comes towards you: do so only twice and she will never
after be really good at the lure; she will contract a habit of
“waiting on” in expectation of a live bird being thrown out for her,
and will ignore the dead lure; then, if you have no live bird by you
with which to lure her without delay, some eagle will be attracted to
the spot, and she will to a certainty be lost.
Now a properly trained _shāhīn_ should be obedient to the dead lure;
she should not require live “hand-birds”[555] to call her down.
To resume; you must first take two or three stone-plover with her, and
then two or three hubara.[556] After that, three or four mallard,[557]
then a wild goose,[558] and then two or three common heron.[559] Fly
her at this quarry in the order mentioned, for a _shāhīn_ improves by
degrees[560] and does not require to be entered to large quarry by
“hand-trains.”[561] Should you, however, be in a district where all
this quarry is not to be found, you must of necessity have recourse
to “trains.” Next fly her at a raven.[562] If she take it, give her
only a little meat and save the raven alive. On the morrow fly her at
this raven from a good long distance: as soon as she takes it, cut the
raven’s throat and let her just taste the blood, but feed her up on
the flesh of a pigeon or of a chicken, for the flesh of the raven is
not a suitable food for hawks.
[Illustration: XXIII
YOUNG PEREGRINE (ENGLISH BLOCK AND INDIAN HOOD)]
On the following day take your hawk and go to some spot where only
two or three half-tame undisturbed cranes[563] are accustomed to feed.
Get close up to them and cast off your hawk. If your _shāhīn_ “bind”
to the quarry, get in as quick as you can and secure the crane’s
wings;[564] cut its throat, rip open its breast, and feed your hawk.
If the _shāhīn_ bind to the head of the quarry but let it go again
after a slight struggle, call her to the lure and quickly feed her up
on the warm flesh of a pigeon or of a chicken, and, on the morrow, she
will not fail you.
If the _shāhīn_ approach the crane close, but neither strike it nor
stoop at it, act in the same way, _i.e._, lure her and feed her on
warm flesh; for amongst falconers it is accepted as a fact that, if
a _shāhīn_ chase the quarry at which she is unhooded, only for the
length of her leash, and be then _quickly fed on warm palatable_
flesh, she will, on the morrow, chase the same quarry for double that
distance.
Fly her, I say, on the morrow, and if she again chases and again
fails, lure her and feed her up on warm flesh.
If you have patience and act as directed, she is certain, at the third
or fourth flight, to take the quarry.
Recollect that a _shāhīn_ differs in disposition from all other
hawks; in disposition it is the most noble. An eyess _chark͟h_ on the
contrary, if lured and fed after she has turned tail, will, from the
ignobleness[565] of her nature, contract this habit of turning tail.
Not so the _shāhīn_, for if _she_ be rewarded on the lure after a
chase of ten yards, she will on the second day chase for fifty yards;
and will, on the third day, either take the quarry, or else make such
an earnest stoop that she may be considered to have taken it.
If your _shāhīn_ binds to the crane high up in the air, seizing it by
the head, and then, when nearing the earth, unbinds and strikes it to
the ground, you must be close up to render assistance by seizing the
crane to prevent it, if not disabled, from escaping. You should, too,
have with you an old made hawk, _shāhīn_ or _chark͟h_, ready to fly at
a quarry that is perhaps only partially disabled; for it is the habit
of most _shāhīns_ to unbind and altogether release the quarry before
touching the earth.[566] A second made hawk is therefore necessary to
secure the partially disabled quarry.
[Illustration: XXIV
INTERMEWED PEREGRINES (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY LIEUT.-COL. S. BIDDULPH)]
Should your _shāhīn_ be buffeted by the crane and in consequence turn
tail, you should fly her for a few days at crane just at sunset.
Should this expedient fail, try the following remedy:—
Call her to the lure of crane’s wings for a day or two (flying her
at no quarry), and kill for her under the lure some live bird. After
that mount your horse, go out into the open country and fly her at a
raven, an hubara, or a stone-plover, or, failing these three, at a
little-owl.[567] Take one of these three with her and feed her on the
warm flesh. Next evening fly her at a crane and she will not fail you,
but will return to her former excellence. For a _shāhīn_ that has been
buffeted by a crane and therefore turns tail, there is no medicine
like a flight at a raven or a stone-plover. Don’t, my son, think that
you will remake her by flying her at a heron; for on the contrary, you
will, by so doing, mar her for crane. Often have I seen a crane-hawk
so spoilt.
You may argue that a heron closely resembles a crane in colour and
in shape, while a raven does not. Quite so—but a heron is, compared
to a crane, a small and feeble[568] quarry, one that your hawk will
easily take.[569] Flown at a heron she will say to herself, “Hallo!
there are two kinds of crane, one suitable and the other unsuitable;
the former is the game for me; no more of the latter.” The raven
and the stone-plover, however, have no resemblance to the crane; a
successful flight at either, duly rewarded by warm flesh, strengthens
a _shāhīn’s_ courage.
If your _shāhīn_ that slays the long-legged crane,
Fly at her prey, and haply fly in vain,
An your heart wish her to resume the chase,
On raven or stone-plover try her pace.
Then, when at length at crane she may be cast,
You’ll find this flight will far surpass the last.
But let her kill a heron—then goodbye!
For naught but easy quarry will she try:
She’ll say, “No strong tenacious crane for me!
So long as easy crane like _this_ I see.”
Another remedy for a crane hawk that has turned tail is to fly her
several times with[571] a made hawk, giving the latter a goodish
start. When the “cast” has taken one or two cranes in this manner,
reverse the process, that is, cast off, first the hawk that turned
tail and then a little later the made hawk.
A _shāhīn_ differs from other falcons.[572] Don’t fancy you can give
her ten flights in a day without spoiling her. If you work her like
this, she will become stale and will be spoilt. One to three flights
with a _shāhīn_ are permissible; more are unlawful.[573]
GOOD HAWKING DISTRICTS.—Possibly you are wondering to yourself what
district will produce for your _shāhīn_ all this varied quarry. Let
me tell you that there is first _Sulaymāniyah_ in _Kurdistān_;[574]
next, the province of _Bag͟hdād_, which has within a radius of two or
three _farsak͟h_ all the quarry you want; and lastly, the district of
_Shīrāz_. These are the only three places I have ever come across in
my life where all quarry suitable for a _shāhīn_ is to be found.[575]
“WAITING ON.”—For “waiting-on” flights, the peregrine[576] or the
passage shahin[577] is better than the eyess shahin.[578] If you train
your _shāhīn_[579] to “wait on” she will never take large quarry such
as wild goose, common crane, ruddy shieldrake, common heron, etc.;
but she will, however, show you excellent sport with small quarry.
The beauty of the _shāhīn_ lies in this, that when you gallop on to
large quarry, unhooding her at it, she is off your fist like a bullet,
to seize it. That his hawk should take unusual quarry that she does
not kill in her wild state is the pride of a falconer, and it is in
this he exhibits his skill. Pigeons, plover, duck and so on are, in
a hawk’s wild state, her natural prey; these she takes without the
falconer’s teaching.
FOOTNOTES:
[537] _Mīk͟hak_ (_vide_ chap. LVI), _i.e._, bruised and swollen soles
from stooping at the hard head of the antelope. A hawk may get swollen
feet from a variety of causes.
[538] _Narra āhū-yi shāk͟h-dār._
[539] _Vide_ note 179, page 42 regarding the confusion of the term
_shāhīn_.
[540] _Dast-par va būlī._
[541] _Siyāh-chashm_, “the black-eyed.”
[542] _Shāhīn-i yūrī._ _Yūrī_ or _yawrī_, E. Turkish, is the young of
any animal; but I think only before it has begun to fend for itself.
[543] Orientals do not fly hawks at “hack.” “‘Hack.’—A state of
liberty in which young eyesses are kept for some weeks to enable them
to gain power of wing.”—_Lascelles._
[544] In Teheran about 15th September. In Baghdad about two days later.
[545] The hood used in Persia and in the regions around _Baṣrah_ and
_Bag͟hdād_ is quite unlike the Indian hood. It is, in fact, little
else than a bag of soft leather with two straps at the back to tighten
it. It is nearly the same pattern as one depicted in _Falconry in the
British Isles_.
[546] _Bad-kulāh_, “hood-shy.” I have _heard_ of sakers being cured of
“hood-shyness,” but real hood-shyness is, I believe, a vice impossible
to cure. Let a hawk sit barefaced during the moult for six months, and
two days after she is taken up she will be as “hood-shy” as ever. A
hawk is “hood-shy” that has, owing to bad handling, conceived a terror
or hatred for the hood, and “bates” when it is shown to her.
[547] _Ṣafrā_, _lit._ “bile” (one of the four humours of the body).
[548] Hawks quickly learn to associate any particular and peculiar
sound with food.
[549] _Dast-kash_, in modern Persian “a glove,” is in India “an
assistant falconer,” or one who “strokes with the hand.”
[550] Eastern falconers use the voice freely in training hawks. The
luring cry throughout the East seems to be _coo coo_. The translator
remembers more than one old-fashioned Panjabī falconer who prided
himself on his “_coo_.”
[551] _Kabūtar-i chāhī_, _lit._ “well-pigeon”: blue rocks in certain
districts inhabit and breed in old wells.
[552] _Chug͟hd_ or _bāya-qūsh_, the species already mentioned in
Chapter VIII as inhabiting ruins and being useful for a preliminary
flight for a _shāhīn_ that is to be entered to stone-plover. Panjabī
falconers call the spotted owlet (_Athene Brama_) _chug͟hd_. This
species is not uncommon in Persia, being often found in holes in
garden walls. The flight is feeble and slow, and it is easily taken by
any hawk. The flesh is palatable to hawks.
[553] _Chāk͟hrūq_, T. Lane, in a note to Chapter xx, Vol. III, of
his incomparable translation of the _Arabian Nights_, says that the
stone-plover or _karawān_ is a favourite cage-bird with the Turks and
Egyptians.
[554] _Pas dawr-i chāk͟hrūq bi-gīr tā bi-k͟hwābad_: the author’s
meaning is not clear.
[555] _Dastī_, adj.
[556] _Hūbara_ or _āhūbara_, Per.; and _ḥubārạ_, Ar.
[557] _Murg͟hābī-yi sar-sabz_, P.; _murg͟hābī-yi shil bāsh_, P.T.;
_shil_, for T. _yeshil_, “green.”
[558] _Qāz._
[559] _Ḥuqār_ (for _ʿuqār_); _vide_ page 136, note 580.
[560] _Pilla pilla bālā mī-ravad_: _pilla_ (m. c.) is the rung of a
ladder, a step, etc.
[561] _Dast-par._
[562] _Kulāg͟h-i quzqūn._
[563] _Du si durnā-yi nazdīk-i ārām va amīn._ _Durnā_, P., or
_t̤urnā_, T., is the common crane; also called _kulank_ or
_kulang_—the “coolan” of Anglo-Indians.
[564] The common crane has a very sharp claw, which it uses in
defence. Even if the falconer make in at once, the hawk may suffer a
permanent injury before he arrives to her assistance.
[565] _Dila va past-fit̤rat_, “ignoble”: _dila_, apparently here the
diminutive of _dil_, “of small heart.”
[566] “Haggards” will often unbind to avoid the concussion on striking
the ground and then rebind. The translator had a haggard saker trained
to kite, which never failed to unbind; he cannot, however, recollect
a case of a young passage hawk, peregrine or saker, unbinding either
from heron or kite. The Persian author is here writing either of the
eyess or of the young _shāhīn_, captured some time before September.
[567] _Chug͟hd_ or _bāya-qūsh._
[568] _Bī-jān-tar va kūchak-tar va maflūk-tar._
[569] In Europe the heron was justly considered a difficult quarry.
Its powers of flight, however, have been greatly over-rated. A heron,
even “on the passage,”[570] is an easy _flight_ to a good passage
hawk. But hawks, at any rate after the first flight or two, fly
at this quarry with great deliberation, and stoop at it with some
caution, for the heron when high up makes half-hearted dabs with its
beak at the hawk. An experienced hawk generally knocks about the heron
by stooping several times at the shoulder or point of the wing. I have
known a “haggard” break the heron’s wing by a stoop. Some hawks bind
to the heron’s feet sticking out behind, and so drag it down close to
earth, out of range of its beak; they then close, on the ground.
[570] “On the passage,” _i.e._, on its regular flight to or from its
feeding ground.
[571] _Bā-ham janāḥ andāk͟htan._
[572] _Siyāh-chashm_, “black-eyed.”
[573] _Ḥarām_, “prohibited; that which is unlawful.”
[574] _Kurdistān_, in Turkey in Asia, N.E. of Mesopotamia.
[575] The black ibis, a favourite quarry in India for the peregrine,
is not found in Persia, Baghdad, etc. Gulls are found in the vicinity
of Shiraz, notably in the open ground round the “_Tak͟ht-i Jamshīd_”
or Persepolis.
[576] _Baḥrī._
[577] _Shāhīn-i t̤ūrī_, _lit._ a netted shahin: _t̤ūrī_ for _tūrī_.
[578] _Shāhīn-i āshiyānī._
[579] By “_shāhīn_” here the author presumably refers to the eyess.