[174] “‘Bind,’ to fasten to the quarry in the air.”—Harting.

[175] It is, of course, not the habit of wild hawks to kill more than one bird at a time. Major C. H. Fisher, commenting on this fact, writes (p. 140): “Nevertheless I have seen it done more than once by a wild falcon, and many times by my own trained birds—in the case of the wild falcon from having at her first stoop struck down her prey too close to a man; from over-keenness, I think, by the tame hawk.”

[176] In this quality of shooting up and preparing for a second stoop the Saker excels the Peregrine. The stoop, however, of the Saker is not as quick and sudden as the Peregrine’s.

CHAPTER XVII
THE SHĀHĪN[179]

This species is very widely distributed. It is divided into three varieties—namely, the dark, the light and the yellow.

VII
INTERMEWED PEREGRINE

The best shāhīns are procured from three districts: from Urūm[180] in Ottoman territory, from Ardabīl[181] in Persia, and from the hills of Shammar[182] in Arabia on the road to the holy city of Mecca.

The Urūm shahin is particularly common in Sīvās,[183] which place may be described as the “mine” of this variety. My private opinion, however, is that this, the shahin of Urūm, is not a shahin at all, but the young of the Peregrine; i.e., when snared it is a “peregrine,” when taken from the nest a “shahin.” My reason for forming this opinion is that I happened one Spring to be in Sīvās and called on the Governor. At my request he gave me a guide, who conducted me to a spot about two farsak͟h from the city, where there was a shahin’s eyrie in the hill-side. I sat down to observe it. My patience was soon rewarded by the appearance of the parent birds, bringing food for their young. I observed the birds closely, and discovered that they were not shahins but peregrines. This strengthened my previous supposition that confusion existed between the nestling and the passage hawk of the same species.

On another occasion I met a shikārchī[184] in Sīvās, with a peregrine on his fist. “What have you there,” I asked, “and what does it kill?” His reply was, “This is a shahin, which I took myself from the nest, and which I have trained to take eagles.” I accompanied him to his house, where he showed me ten or fifteen live eagles with clipped wings, which he kept loose near the house. It appeared that they had all been taken with the falcon then on his fist. I was seized with a desire to possess her, and offered him a large price; but he declined to part with his treasure.