FOOTNOTES:

[760] K͟hazīna.

[761] ʿAz̤m-i zawraqī, lit. “boat-bone.”

[762] T̤uʿmah, Ar., “meat, food; lure, etc.,” is used by the Persian author both for “food” and for “casting.”

[763] Mavīz, black raisins with stones.

[764] Parda.

[765] Par-k͟hurda-hā.

[766] Pūst.

[767] The eggs are half to two-thirds the size of English eggs.

[768] Even wild hawks make mistakes in stooping and injure themselves, but in this case it is the breast-bone that gets injured.

[769] Kivla, “scab.”

CHAPTER LX
ON THE NUMBER OF FEATHERS IN THE WING AND TAIL

In all hawks, whether long-winged or short, seven flight-feathers, by God’s creation, show from under the coverts called yār-māliq,[770] while in the tail there are in all twelve feathers. Very, very rarely, indeed, are eight flight-feathers apparent under the yār-māliq; but occasionally fourteen or even sixteen feathers occur in the tail. Birds with the latter number are in no way better than birds with the normal twelve.