HECTIC FEVER OR PHTHISIS[698]
As mentioned in a previous chapter, the pulse of a human being
in sound health has seventy-five beats to the minute, while a
hawk in good health has a pulse of a hundred-and-twenty or a
hundred-and-thirty. The pulse of all hawks is, however, not alike; for
instance, as the _shāhīn_ is faster and more powerful than any hawk,
short-winged or long-winged, so, too, it has a faster pulse.
If you are unable to feel the pulse of a hawk in the second joint
of her wing, or if after discovering it you find that its beating is
too rapid to be counted, know that this is a symptom of hectic fever.
Another symptom is that both by day and by night, she puts her head
under her wing at unusual times. Another symptom is an inordinate
appetite: she will gorge till the meat appears in her throat, and even
then tear at meat and throw it away, there being no more room in her
crop; but the more good food she eats, the thinner she gets.
Another symptom is that she is unable to cross her wings, but lets
them droop one on each side of her tail, leaving her oil-gland and
loins uncovered. Another symptom is that she drinks and bathes more
than usual.
If the disease be not of long standing but has reached the first or
second stage only, it may admit of cure; but if it has reached the
third stage, you may set about procuring a new hawk for yourself, for
her case is hopeless.
Now this disease arises from both humidity of temperament, and from
heat: if from the former there will be a slight discharge from the
eyes and mouth. _Treatment_: feed her twice a day on pigeons, larks,
sparrows, black chickens, and pork. _Item_: give her daily one white
pepper corn;[699] and if you notice an improvement increase the dose
by degrees till you can give as many as five pepper corns. _Item_:
roughly crush some ginger and give her daily with her food a small
piece the size of a pea. _Item_: grind finely a piece of cinnamon
equal in size to a pea, and give it to her in her food. If the disease
arises from heat of temperament, change her perch to another room and
thus give her a change of air. Feed on jerboa rats, land tortoises,
and cockerels. Instead of water, give her to drink the juice of
ispaghul,[700] and sprinkle dried ispaghul seed on her afternoon
meal, giving her also feathers with her meat. When the heat of her
temperament abates, you will find that she will no longer drink the
ispaghul juice; you must therefore exert your falconer’s skill and get
her to take in the morning about two or three _mis̤qāl_[701] of the
juice with her meat.
If, on account of the abatement of her heat, she will in no wise touch
ispaghul juice, you must resort to the device known amongst falconers
as _chālma_. Now this is _chālma_: sever the thigh of a cockerel close
to its body and draw back the skin to the knee-joint, reversing the
skin in so doing. Next sever the skin at the knee-joint, and bind up
the end firmly with silk. Into this bag put some ispaghul juice and
also some of the seed, to the amount of an acorn in quantity, such a
quantity in fact as the hawk can swallow with ease. While feeding your
hawk, carelessly introduce the loose spare end of the skin bag, and
get her to swallow it. If you cannot induce her to swallow it, you
must use force. Every morning you must give her the juice of ispaghul,
and every afternoon the dried seed; for this will cool her liver. She
will cast up the seed every morning with the casting of feathers and
bones. The quantity of ispaghul juice may be two or three _mis̤qāl_,
but of the dried seed less than half a _mis̤qāl_ so that she may find
no difficulty in ejecting it with the morning casting. Please God, she
will recover.
_Item_: take juice of long cucumbers and juice of small
cucumbers,[702] and give it to her in the same way you would give
ispaghul juice. First put down her throat a quarter of a _mis̤qāl_ of
manna; on the top of that administer the cucumber juice. Wait till she
has muted three or four times and then feed her up for the day, giving
her a moderate meal. Employ this treatment on three “alternate” days.
With these drugs, dose her thrice, on alternate days;
For that’s what the book of Greek medicine says.
On no account should you give her manna after feeding her, but she
may be allowed to drink as much cucumber juice as she pleases. _Item_:
give her daily, if a female goshawk, one _nuk͟hūd_[703] of camphor,
and if a male goshawk, half that quantity: to a sparrow-hawk give a
quantity proportionate to her size. Fatten up the hawk as much as you
can.
FOOTNOTES:
[698] _Tab-i lāzim._
[699] “White pepper” is prepared by divesting the ripe berry of its
skin by maceration in water, after which it is rubbed and finally
bleached in the sun. It is occasionally bleached still further by
means of chlorine. It is twice as expensive as black pepper, but is in
little demand.—_Dict. Econ. Prod._, Vol. VI, Pt. 1, p. 261.
[700] _Isfarza_ or _ispag͟hūl_; said to be the seed of the pea-wort.
[701] _Vide_ note 703, p. 165.
[702] _K͟hiyār-i chambar_, a long variety of cucumber: _k͟hiyār-i
ābī_, a small variety.
[703] A _nuk͟hūd_ is the twenty-fourth part of a _mis̤qāl_ and a
_mis̤qāl_ is equal to about three grains. Camphor has a peculiar
effect on hawks, producing intoxication, and later convulsions,
according to the dose and the condition of the hawk. Two grains of
fresh, strong camphor, given to a saker in fair condition and on an
empty stomach, will produce intoxication. A larger dose will generally
cause convulsions and possibly death.