[429] In this Eastern attitude the hawk is nearly on a level with, and is close to, the face of the falconer.
[430] Birds need but little sleep.
[431] In a Persian majlis, servants would constantly be coming and going with pipes and sherbet and coffee in the large bare room. In addition to friends and relations, there would be all the servants of these friends and relations.
[432] The Persian, unlike the Indian, hood, is opened and loosened by straps at the back.
[433] As the hawk was irregularly fed the previous day she would probably “cast” late. As a rule sakers do not “cast” as early as peregrines.
[434] Ṣafrā, Ar. “bile; the ‘casting’ of a hawk”: t̤aʿmah, lit. “food,” also means “casting.” The Turkish for a “casting” is tuk-samik, i.e., tuk, “feather,” and samik, “bone.” In a good Indian hood, the beak aperture is so cut away that a hooded hawk can, with a little difficulty, both eat and cast, but in the Persian hood a hawk cannot open its beak sufficiently wide to give exit to the casting.
[435] In the cold weather, eagles are late risers: they do not leave their resting spots till the sun is warm. A peregrine will leave its roosting place before it is light.
[436] Pā or pāy means any leg, but especially the hind leg. As the fore leg is here called qalam (shank), it is concluded the author means, by pā, “hind leg.”
[437] Dah zarʿ. The Persian zarʿ is about 40 inches.