“Rangle.”—In front of each long-winged hawk there should be a handful of pebbles ranging from a size smaller than a pea to a size larger than a bean; for it is the habit of all falcons[640] in the mew to swallow small stones on most afternoons before they are fed, and to cast them up again with a great deal of “bile.”[641] Should a hawk have stones in her stomach when you feed her, she will retain the meat in her feet and wait a little till she has cast up the stones. Not till then will she feed.

Short-winged hawks do not eat “Rangle.”—Goshawks and other short-winged hawks do not eat stones in the moult.

During the moult you must feed your hawk twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, letting her eat as much as she pleases, so that she be gorged.[642]

If the “mew” be in a “cool-region,” every short-winged hawk, from a common sparrow-hawk to a white goshawk, should have a room to itself, proportionate to its size. A few air-holes should be made on the north side. In this room, two or three perches of varying thickness should be erected, and the perches themselves should not be turned to a uniform thickness, so that the hawk may have a choice and select a perch that suits its fancy at the time. A roomy bathing-pool must also be constructed in the ground. Next, place in the room a piece of matting [made of split cane] to the centre of which a cord is attached. At first you must feed the hawk twice a day, till she is fat. As soon as she is fat, the amount of her food must be a fixed quantity, and this should be bound on to the centre of the matting and left, so that she may feed when she feels inclined.

It is not advisable to keep falcons loose like this in a room; in fact, it is injurious to do so.[643]

FOOTNOTES:

[633] It is not clear what the author means by “lion with a buffalo.” The hunting leopard is trained in other countries besides India to take antelope and gazelle.

[634] By this title the Shiʿahs refer to ʿAlī. The writer was undoubtedly a Shiʿah. The Sunnis of the present day, but not the Shiʿahs, style the Sultan of Turkey “Commander of the Faithful.”

[635] Garm-sīr va sard-sīr, “hot regions and cold.” Tabrīz, T̤ihrān and parts of Iṣfahān are sard-sīr. The city of Iṣfahān and of Shīrāz are “middling.”

[636] Shimāl, “North,” is the name given to the prevalent wind in Baghdad and in the Persian Gulf.