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.”
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.