[411] Mudhun, “oil-bottle,” called in the Boke of St. Albans the “note” (nut?).
[412] “To man” a hawk is to make it tame and accustomed to the presence of human beings.
[413] K͟hadang kardan, lit. “to make straight like an arrow.” According to the Boke of St. Albans a hawk “reformith” her feathers when she straightens them without oiling them.
[414] In the Kapurthala State, sakers that were to be entered to kite were trained in this manner. The hawk, excited by being fed, was hooded and placed on the ground. Then, the lure being banged on the ground, it was taught to snatch at it (in the dark), and rewarded when it “bound” to the lure. The first live kite given as a “train” was presented to it in this manner, i.e., the hooded hawk was induced to “bind” to it as to the lure and was duly rewarded. The hood was then removed and perhaps a little more meat presented through the kite’s feathers. The kite was then forcibly removed and thrown to the distance of one or two feet, and as soon as the hawk bound to it, it was fed up on a fresh warm bird. The eyes of the kite were seeled, its claws tied up, and a string was of course fastened to its leg.
[415] A tame hawk’s nostrils get choked up with blood and dust. Eastern falconers are generally particular about keeping the nostrils clean. One of the advantages of “tiring” is that it induces a flow of water that keeps the nostrils clean. “‘Tiring,’ s., any tough piece (as the leg of a fowl with little on it) given to a hawk when in training to pull at, in order to prolong the meal and exercise the muscles of the back and neck.”—Harting.
[416] The mid-day sun would be too powerful at that time of the year.
CHAPTER XXXI
ANECDOTES OF A BAGHDAD FALCONER
Anecdotes of a Baghdad Falconer.—There is a well-known story of a famous falconer of Baghdad, named Sayyid Adham. For a long time he was blessed with no offspring, but at length the Lord of the World bestowed on him one son. At the time of our story, the boy had arrived at the age of two years, and had conceived a great affection and fascination for a certain bālābān, the property of his father.
A hawk-catcher[417] had captured a fine bālābān-i aḥmar-i shāmī, a young passage falcon, and had carried it as a “present”[418] to Dā,ūd, the Pasha of Baghdad.
Sayyid Adham, the Grand Falconer,[419] was summoned and the hawk made over to him with directions to train it to gazelle. He took it to his home, named it “Meteor,” and unseeled its eyes on the third day.