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.
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.
XIX
YOUNG PASSAGE SAKER (DARK VARIETY) ON HUBARA
When the timid lamb-natured hubára’s enraged,