XXI
STONE-PLOVER
Now as soon as she is thoroughly trained to the lure of crane’s wings, i.e., as soon as she will come eagerly and unhesitatingly to it from the falconer’s fist the moment that it is swung, you must, in the following manner, give her one or two live chickens on the lure. As soon as the hawk binds to the lure, insert the head and neck of the chicken through the wings of the lure, and let the hawk grasp it in her claws. Then, cut the chicken’s throat and feed up the hawk. Give her several chickens in this manner, one in the morning and one in the evening. In the morning, take care that your hawk eats no feathers with her meat, but in the evening give her a “casting” of feathers. Recollect, too, that the higher the condition in which you train and enter a shāhīn the better.
The next step is to fly your shāhīn at a blue rock[551] with eyes partially “seeled” so that it can see out of the top only of the eyes. Go out into the open country; show the pigeon to the hawk and then let it fly. When the pigeon has got away a little distance, cast off your shāhīn so that she may take the pigeon in the air. Cut the pigeon’s throat and feed up the hawk, giving her sufficient food to last her for twenty-four hours. Then carry her home, and with warm water wash away any blood stains, and also carefully cleanse her nostrils from congealed blood. Give her two or three pigeons in this manner.
You must now mark down a “little-owl”[552] somewhere in open country where there are no wells near. Unhood your hawk and walk up towards the owl. As soon as it is on the wing and your hawk shows an inclination to give chase, let her go. If she takes the owl, feed her up. If, however, the owl gets into a hole, quickly cast the lure to your hawk and let her take it: on no account let her settle on the ground, for settling on the ground is in a shāhīn an odious vice.
If the Shāhīn when settled on the ground
Be gorged with delicate and dainty fare
’Twere surely then beyond all reason’s bound,
To hope she’ll take a quarry in the air.
Hood the hawk on the lure and feed her. Now go and pull the owl out of its hiding place and put it in your falconer’s bag for the evening. In the evening—provided your hawk has not been given too much food in the morning—mount your horse and go out into the open plain, to a place where there are neither holes nor wells. Unhood the shāhīn; let her see the owl and then let the owl fly. When it has flown about twenty yards, cast off the hawk. She is certain to take it. Kill the owl and feed up the hawk. You must now fly and kill with her two or three of these “little-owls.”