CHAPTER XXTHE EYESS SAKER FALCON

CHAPTER XXTHE EYESS SAKER FALCON

TheeyesscharkÍŸh[229]is of four kinds. First there is the variety that in the Spring[230]months breeds in the hills of Persia and Turkey.[231]

Another is found in Nejd[232]in Turkish territory, where it lays itseggs on the bare ground, like the black-breasted sand-grouse,[233]and the houbara bustard. This variety is calledchark͟h-i māniʿī.[234]

Another kind nests in the hills and dry water-courses of Nejd. From thence nestlings are obtained by the Arabs who style themḤijāzī.[235]

All these kinds, if obtained from the nest, arechark͟h, and if snared after they have left the nest arelafīf.

Thechark͟h-i māniʿīis exceptionally good, whether for gazelle, or common crane, or golden eagle: you can train it to anything. I am able to state that it is faster even than theshāhīn, for I have often flown one at crane in company with ashāhīn, and it has reached and “bound” to the crane a long way ahead of it.[236]

The colouration of themāniʿīvaries, but that variety that has very red markings on the back, like a kestril,[237]is the best. Of all thechark͟hsof the world themāniʿīwith red spots on the back is the best. Although it is an eyess (chark͟h) and is obtained from the nest, it is equal to any noble passage falcon (bālābān) of theḥurr ṣāfīrace. It is to be obtained only from the Arabs ofUnayza.[238]In that waterless part ofʿArabistānits chief prey is houbara and hare.[239]

FOOTNOTES:[223]FārsīandAḥmar Shāmī.[224]The common crane is, in the air, an easier quarry than the heron. The struggle on the ground is, however, severe and highly dangerous, as the crane uses its sharp claw with great effect.[225]Videpage 54, note215.[226]Some Indian and Persian falconers I questioned in Baghdad had never met with a falcon that answered this description. TheLagaṛfalcon (F. Jugger) of India—a desert falcon—does not answer to the description. Also it does not appear to be found in Persia or Asia Minor.[227]Kulāg͟h-i kūchak u ablaq, presumably “the hooded crow,” common around Baghdad and in Persia. The author probably styles it “small” as compared to the raven, which is sometimes called by the same name.Videpage 46, note186.[228]Durrāj, “the francolin.”[229]Chark͟his the eyess saker, andbālābānthe passage saker.[230]There are four distinct seasons of the year, in Persia. The Spring, unlike the Indian Spring, is long and cool. The Saker falcon migrates from the Panjab much earlier than the peregrine.[231]i.e., Turkish territory.[232]Nejd, in central Arabia, directly west of Baḥrayn Island.[233]Bāqir-qaraT. andSiyāh-sīnahP.: both words signify literally “black breast.” The Arab gentleman mentioned in note215, page 54, informed me that in certain localities the saker nests on the bare ground.Videalso page 115, note491. An Englishman told me that he once, in Wales, found two peregrine’s eggs laid on the bare open ground close to a cliff edge.[234]Hasmāniʿīhere the signification of “difficult of access”?[235]Ḥijāz, a province on the Red Sea. It is not in Nejd.[236]This is no sure test of swiftness, for a peregrine flown with a large and powerful saker often flies “cunning.”Videnote178, page 42.[237]I have known a saker that in the immature plumage was white and covered with spots (such a saker is styled in the Kapurthala Statechītal charg͟hand is there considered useless for anything except hare) assume this red kestril-like plumage on its first moult.[238]Unayza, name of a tribe and of a place in West Nejd. The tribe is famous for a breed of horses, larger and coarser than the Nejd breed. The name is said to be the diminutive of eitheranza, a “she-goat” or ofanaza, a “javelin.”[239]All sakers in a wild state occasionally prey on houbara. Trained haggards, but not young passage hawks, will as a rule take hare without being entered by a “train.” Perhaps during the nesting season, the parent birds are driven to killing hare. I have seen a young passage hawk of mine, flying close to the ground, carry a hare for two or three hundred yards. The hare, a fine hill specimen, weighed 4½ lbs., while the saker weighed only 2 lbs. 4 oz. I have seen an “intermewed” saker stoop at, and strike, a large hare on the head, with such force that the hare never moved again. In Dresser’sBirds of Europeit is stated on the authority of Colonel Przevalsky that in Mongolia, in Winter, the chief food of the saker is the Alpine hare.

[223]FārsīandAḥmar Shāmī.

[223]FārsīandAḥmar Shāmī.

[224]The common crane is, in the air, an easier quarry than the heron. The struggle on the ground is, however, severe and highly dangerous, as the crane uses its sharp claw with great effect.

[224]The common crane is, in the air, an easier quarry than the heron. The struggle on the ground is, however, severe and highly dangerous, as the crane uses its sharp claw with great effect.

[225]Videpage 54, note215.

[225]Videpage 54, note215.

[226]Some Indian and Persian falconers I questioned in Baghdad had never met with a falcon that answered this description. TheLagaṛfalcon (F. Jugger) of India—a desert falcon—does not answer to the description. Also it does not appear to be found in Persia or Asia Minor.

[226]Some Indian and Persian falconers I questioned in Baghdad had never met with a falcon that answered this description. TheLagaṛfalcon (F. Jugger) of India—a desert falcon—does not answer to the description. Also it does not appear to be found in Persia or Asia Minor.

[227]Kulāg͟h-i kūchak u ablaq, presumably “the hooded crow,” common around Baghdad and in Persia. The author probably styles it “small” as compared to the raven, which is sometimes called by the same name.Videpage 46, note186.

[227]Kulāg͟h-i kūchak u ablaq, presumably “the hooded crow,” common around Baghdad and in Persia. The author probably styles it “small” as compared to the raven, which is sometimes called by the same name.Videpage 46, note186.

[228]Durrāj, “the francolin.”

[228]Durrāj, “the francolin.”

[229]Chark͟his the eyess saker, andbālābānthe passage saker.

[229]Chark͟his the eyess saker, andbālābānthe passage saker.

[230]There are four distinct seasons of the year, in Persia. The Spring, unlike the Indian Spring, is long and cool. The Saker falcon migrates from the Panjab much earlier than the peregrine.

[230]There are four distinct seasons of the year, in Persia. The Spring, unlike the Indian Spring, is long and cool. The Saker falcon migrates from the Panjab much earlier than the peregrine.

[231]i.e., Turkish territory.

[231]i.e., Turkish territory.

[232]Nejd, in central Arabia, directly west of Baḥrayn Island.

[232]Nejd, in central Arabia, directly west of Baḥrayn Island.

[233]Bāqir-qaraT. andSiyāh-sīnahP.: both words signify literally “black breast.” The Arab gentleman mentioned in note215, page 54, informed me that in certain localities the saker nests on the bare ground.Videalso page 115, note491. An Englishman told me that he once, in Wales, found two peregrine’s eggs laid on the bare open ground close to a cliff edge.

[233]Bāqir-qaraT. andSiyāh-sīnahP.: both words signify literally “black breast.” The Arab gentleman mentioned in note215, page 54, informed me that in certain localities the saker nests on the bare ground.Videalso page 115, note491. An Englishman told me that he once, in Wales, found two peregrine’s eggs laid on the bare open ground close to a cliff edge.

[234]Hasmāniʿīhere the signification of “difficult of access”?

[234]Hasmāniʿīhere the signification of “difficult of access”?

[235]Ḥijāz, a province on the Red Sea. It is not in Nejd.

[235]Ḥijāz, a province on the Red Sea. It is not in Nejd.

[236]This is no sure test of swiftness, for a peregrine flown with a large and powerful saker often flies “cunning.”Videnote178, page 42.

[236]This is no sure test of swiftness, for a peregrine flown with a large and powerful saker often flies “cunning.”Videnote178, page 42.

[237]I have known a saker that in the immature plumage was white and covered with spots (such a saker is styled in the Kapurthala Statechītal charg͟hand is there considered useless for anything except hare) assume this red kestril-like plumage on its first moult.

[237]I have known a saker that in the immature plumage was white and covered with spots (such a saker is styled in the Kapurthala Statechītal charg͟hand is there considered useless for anything except hare) assume this red kestril-like plumage on its first moult.

[238]Unayza, name of a tribe and of a place in West Nejd. The tribe is famous for a breed of horses, larger and coarser than the Nejd breed. The name is said to be the diminutive of eitheranza, a “she-goat” or ofanaza, a “javelin.”

[238]Unayza, name of a tribe and of a place in West Nejd. The tribe is famous for a breed of horses, larger and coarser than the Nejd breed. The name is said to be the diminutive of eitheranza, a “she-goat” or ofanaza, a “javelin.”

[239]All sakers in a wild state occasionally prey on houbara. Trained haggards, but not young passage hawks, will as a rule take hare without being entered by a “train.” Perhaps during the nesting season, the parent birds are driven to killing hare. I have seen a young passage hawk of mine, flying close to the ground, carry a hare for two or three hundred yards. The hare, a fine hill specimen, weighed 4½ lbs., while the saker weighed only 2 lbs. 4 oz. I have seen an “intermewed” saker stoop at, and strike, a large hare on the head, with such force that the hare never moved again. In Dresser’sBirds of Europeit is stated on the authority of Colonel Przevalsky that in Mongolia, in Winter, the chief food of the saker is the Alpine hare.

[239]All sakers in a wild state occasionally prey on houbara. Trained haggards, but not young passage hawks, will as a rule take hare without being entered by a “train.” Perhaps during the nesting season, the parent birds are driven to killing hare. I have seen a young passage hawk of mine, flying close to the ground, carry a hare for two or three hundred yards. The hare, a fine hill specimen, weighed 4½ lbs., while the saker weighed only 2 lbs. 4 oz. I have seen an “intermewed” saker stoop at, and strike, a large hare on the head, with such force that the hare never moved again. In Dresser’sBirds of Europeit is stated on the authority of Colonel Przevalsky that in Mongolia, in Winter, the chief food of the saker is the Alpine hare.

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