Before setting down long-winged hawks that have been flown at great quarry, it is necessary to brand their nostrils, and this is especially necessary in the case of gazelle- and crane-hawks; for the orifice of the nose of a long-winged hawk is a pit, and when the throat of a gazelle is cut and the hawk pulls at the spurting throat, her nostrils become filled with blood, which congeals and stops the passage of her breath; the blood cannot be completely removed by washing, for the nostril is like a well. Take a packing needle and make it red-hot and brand the “button”[791] in the centre of the nostril, and with the point of the needle clean out the tube of the nostril shaping it like a spout,[792] so that you may hereafter be able to rinse out the nostril and remove the congealed blood.
For long-winged hawks flown at large quarry, especially for gazelle- and crane-hawks, branding the tube of the nostril is essential. Perhaps you will say, “Why has not the All-knowing God created hawks with noses ready branded?” The reply is that in a wild state these hawks prey on small quarry, such as pigeons and sand-grouse and larks, and, what is more, at their own leisure they first plume the quarry and then eat it, so that only their beaks get defiled by the blood and these are cleaned on the ground after the meal. But the trained hawk is artificially flown at gazelle and crane, and out of her hungry eagerness she buries all her head in the throat of the quarry as soon as it is cut. Now the main artery in a gazelle’s throat will send the blood spouting out for ten paces’ distance, and so, too, with a crane.
If a hawk’s nostrils with a brand you sear,
Its wind suffices to pursue the deer.
FOOTNOTES:
[791] Tukma or dukma or dugma, T., “a button.”
[792] Mis̤l-i nāvdān durust kun; meaning not clear.
CHAPTER LXVIII
A HAWK NOT TO BE FED WHEN “BLOWN”
If your hawk has worked hard and taken her quarry and you come up and see that she is blown, that her beak is open and her wings are loose, on no account feed her up, or you will make her ill; or else she will not fly with zest for three or four days. Now the reason is this: from the violence of her exertions the blood and fat in her body have become mixed, and her quarry too, owing to its fear, has exerted its utmost efforts to escape, and in this state you kill it and feed her on it. Now Ḥāris̤ bin Kilda, one of the most noted physicians in the time of the Lord of the Prophets[793] (God’s peace on Him and his Family) said to Nūshīravān the Just, “Eat not when thou art in a state of excitement”; and this maxim appears to be applicable to all living things. Therefore cut the quarry’s throat—letting your falcon see you do it—and hood her on her quarry, and remove her. “Carry” her for at least half an hour[794] till she has roused twice or thrice and her beak is closed, and she has collected and crossed her wings, and regained her wind. Then remove her hood close to her quarry and feed her upon it.
With goshawks, however, and with merlins, too, flown at larks, cut the throat of the quarry and let the hawk “plume”[795] it thoroughly and then eat. As a goshawk has no hood, you cannot treat her as just described for a falcon.