ON BRANDING THE NOSTRILS BEFORE SETTING DOWN TO MOULT
Before setting down long-winged hawks that have been flown at
great quarry, it is necessary to brand their nostrils, and this is
especially necessary in the case of gazelle- and crane-hawks; for
the orifice of the nose of a long-winged hawk is a pit, and when the
throat of a gazelle is cut and the hawk pulls at the spurting throat,
her nostrils become filled with blood, which congeals and stops the
passage of her breath; the blood cannot be completely removed by
washing, for the nostril is like a well. Take a packing needle and
make it red-hot and brand the “button”[791] in the centre of the
nostril, and with the point of the needle clean out the tube of the
nostril shaping it like a spout,[792] so that you may hereafter be
able to rinse out the nostril and remove the congealed blood.
For long-winged hawks flown at large quarry, especially for gazelle-
and crane-hawks, branding the tube of the nostril is essential.
Perhaps you will say, “Why has not the All-knowing God created hawks
with noses ready branded?” The reply is that in a wild state these
hawks prey on small quarry, such as pigeons and sand-grouse and larks,
and, what is more, at their own leisure they first plume the quarry
and then eat it, so that only their beaks get defiled by the blood
and these are cleaned on the ground after the meal. But the trained
hawk is artificially flown at gazelle and crane, and out of her hungry
eagerness she buries all her head in the throat of the quarry as soon
as it is cut. Now the main artery in a gazelle’s throat will send the
blood spouting out for ten paces’ distance, and so, too, with a crane.
If a hawk’s nostrils with a brand you sear,
Its wind suffices to pursue the deer.
FOOTNOTES:
[791] _Tukma_ or _dukma_ or _dugma_, T., “a button.”
[792] _Mis̤l-i nāvdān durust kun_; meaning not clear.