CHAPTER XXIITHE MERLIN

Thislittle falcon is beyond all praise. There are three varieties, the dark, the light, and the yellow, the first being the best. No Persian falconer has yet found the nest of the merlin, nor is it known in what country it breeds. All I know is that, about two months after the beginning of Autumn, it is spread over the face of the land, and is then caught in nets by the bird-catchers.

Like thebālābānthere are three kinds, theḤurr Ṣāfī, theAḥmar Shāmī,[253]and theLafīf. The dark variety, which is theLafīfand has cheek-stripes,[254]is better than theḤurr Ṣāfī. Unlike the Saker, this falcon is somewhat forgetful by nature.

If you want to train a “cast”[255]of merlins to fly larks,[256]train them quickly, luring them three times or four times a day to a lure made of pigeons’ wings.[257]Now get a live lark, and for three days,—after the merlin has been made hot and excited by being called to the lure—tie the lark to the end of a long stick, and fly the hawk at that, making it stoop four or five times.[258]Then let the hawk take, and eat half of the lark. Do this three times a day, flying it after it has digested its meal.[259]

After the merlins are well entered to the lark at the end of the stick,[260]go out into the open country. Show them, by hand, a good lark, unruffled and strong on the wing; then let it fly, casting off both merlins after it.[261]They will stoop at it and take it. When they do, feed them up together. Do this for three or four days.

Now go into the open country and fly them at a wild lark, choosing some spot free from wells or gardens: for, if your hawkchases a lark into a well, it will probably get destroyed; if it chases it into a garden, it will not only lose the lark, but lose itself. You require a clear open plain.

The quicker you train these little falcons the better, but with other hawks the contrary holds good: in training the latter, use deliberation.

Method of Snaring Larks.—I am certain the reader has been saying to himself, “Where am I to get all these live larks? Surely the author is wrong somewhere.” No, my friend, it isyouthat are wrong. Now listen to me while I tell you how to snare larks.

Get a long, light pole,[262]about eleven feet long, and bind to the end of it, a horse-hair noose[263](of white horse-hair for choice) made of a single hair, and use white thread for the binding.[264]As soon as your merlin is keen on the lure, go out into the open country with an assistant. When you come across a lark, give the merlin to your assistant, and then move aside ten or fifteen paces. Now, alongside of the lark, lure the merlin to your fist. As soon as the lark spies the hawk, it will crouch on the ground, its eyes glued on the hawk. Now hand over the hawk to your assistant. Make him hold his hand high, and by lowering it and raising it cause the hawk to extend and flutter its wings, so that the attention of the lark may remain engrossed on it. Tell your man to go to the left of the lark and to stand about ten paces from it, making the hawk flutter all the time. Do you go to its right, and, advancing very slowly, extend the pole, slip the horse-hair noose on to the poor lark’s neck, and draw it to you, and—there is your “train.” This device is the invention of your humble servant. It is most successful in the Autumn and Winter months.

A lark, before a cast of merlins, gives a very pretty ringing flight. In the Spring, however, and even on warm days in the Winter,[265]they will not ring up.

A very good female merlin will take “chukor,” “seesee,”[266]quail, woodcock,[267]and other small quarry.

Defect of Merlins.—Merlins are inveterate “carriers,”[268]a great defect in their character, and should therefore be flown as a “cast,” and not singly. Another defect is that, if allowed to get very hungry, they begin to tear their own feet; and if the falconer be inattentive, they will tear away the flesh till they reach the shank bone.[269]Once they learn this vice, the only remedy is to give them their freedom. The falconer must therefore be careful to keep them always in high condition, for otherwise they will not only not “ring up” well, but will also contract the vice just mentioned.

A good, young, merlin may be kept and moulted, but just as is the case of a young passage saker and an “intermewed”[270]one, an intermewed[271]merlin will not ring up as well as a young passage hawk. The young hawk is light in body, and ignorant as well; but after the moult it becomes not only heavy, but cunning also, and will give up the moment it sees that the lark it is chasing is very strong on the wing. A “haggard”bālābān,[272]however, will, in the hands of a skilful falconer, ring up better than a young passagebālābān.

There are two varieties of merlin. In one variety the immature and mature plumage are, even after many moults, the same. In the other, the plumage of the back, after the first moult, becomes blue-grey, while the cere and legs become bright yellow like amber. I have never been able to discriminate which kind it is that will remain the same, and which kind will assume the blue plumage and yellow cere.

FOOTNOTES:[253]Videnote208, page 52.[254]Madāmiʿ, pl. ofmadmaʿ,videp. 50, note200.[255]“‘Cast,’s., a ‘cast of hawks,’i.e., two; not necessarily a pair.”—Harting.[256]KākulīP., which elsewhere the author says is calledquṃburahby the Arabs; it is the Crested Lark.[257]A lure made of pigeons’ wings is not very durable.[258]The lark at the end of the stick will be in theairthe whole time, and the merlin, though raw, will not therefore sit on the ground.[259]Baʿd az burdan-i gūsht.A merlin will eat in a day, two sparrows or larks.[260]Kākulī-yi mīk͟h-band.[261]Har du rā juft bi-yandāz.[262]In the Dera Ismail Khan district, in the Panjab, the common desert lark calledchandūrused to be snared in this fashion, the wand used being a stalk of the grass calledkānā.[263]Ḥalqa-yi mū-yi dum-i asp.[264]The surface of the desert ground would be whitish in colouration.[265]Not clear whether the author means that it is the larks or the hawks that will not ring up, or both.[266]Kabk, the Red-legged Partridge of India:tīhū, the Seesee of India.[267]YalvaT., is a name of the woodcock, but it is probably a name given also to some species of rail. One Persian Turk tells me that it is called by the Persiansk͟hurūsak, and “is of a reddish brown colour, has a long bill, yellow legs, and frequents damp or marshy ground.”[268]“‘Carry,’v., to fly away with the quarry.”—Harting.[269]Qalam.[270]“‘Intermewed’.—A hawk that has been moulted in confinement.”—Lascelles.[271]K͟hāna-t̤ūlak.[272]“Haggard,” a hawk that has moulted in a wild condition. The author here calls thisdāsh-t̤ūlakT. “moulted outside.”

[253]Videnote208, page 52.

[254]Madāmiʿ, pl. ofmadmaʿ,videp. 50, note200.

[255]“‘Cast,’s., a ‘cast of hawks,’i.e., two; not necessarily a pair.”—Harting.

[256]KākulīP., which elsewhere the author says is calledquṃburahby the Arabs; it is the Crested Lark.

[257]A lure made of pigeons’ wings is not very durable.

[258]The lark at the end of the stick will be in theairthe whole time, and the merlin, though raw, will not therefore sit on the ground.

[259]Baʿd az burdan-i gūsht.A merlin will eat in a day, two sparrows or larks.

[260]Kākulī-yi mīk͟h-band.

[261]Har du rā juft bi-yandāz.

[262]In the Dera Ismail Khan district, in the Panjab, the common desert lark calledchandūrused to be snared in this fashion, the wand used being a stalk of the grass calledkānā.

[263]Ḥalqa-yi mū-yi dum-i asp.

[264]The surface of the desert ground would be whitish in colouration.

[265]Not clear whether the author means that it is the larks or the hawks that will not ring up, or both.

[266]Kabk, the Red-legged Partridge of India:tīhū, the Seesee of India.

[267]YalvaT., is a name of the woodcock, but it is probably a name given also to some species of rail. One Persian Turk tells me that it is called by the Persiansk͟hurūsak, and “is of a reddish brown colour, has a long bill, yellow legs, and frequents damp or marshy ground.”

[268]“‘Carry,’v., to fly away with the quarry.”—Harting.

[269]Qalam.

[270]“‘Intermewed’.—A hawk that has been moulted in confinement.”—Lascelles.

[271]K͟hāna-t̤ūlak.

[272]“Haggard,” a hawk that has moulted in a wild condition. The author here calls thisdāsh-t̤ūlakT. “moulted outside.”

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