38 JUNGLE FOLK 



short-winged or yellow-eyed hawks and the long- 

 winged or dark-eyed hawks. The former adopt what 

 I may perhaps call slap-dash methods. A furious rush 

 is made at the quarry, and if this be not secured at the 

 first onslaught the chase is given up. The second class 

 adopts the slow but sure method. The falcon, having 

 sighted its quarry, settles down to a long pursuit, keeps 

 on and on until it finds itself above its victim, on to 

 which it stoops. The second class of raptorial birds, 

 which includes all the falcons, affords the better kind 

 of sport, because the following of the chase entails some 

 hard riding. For falconry of this kind a stretch of 

 fiat, open country is a sine qua non, and, as this is 

 comparatively easy to find in India, one would natur- 

 ally expect that the long-winged form of falconry 

 would be the most popular among Indians. But this 

 is not so. In Northern India, at any rate, that species 

 of falconry that does not involve hard riding on the 

 part of the falconer is the most practised. The gos- 

 hawk (Astur palabarius) is the hawk most commonly 

 used. 



Perhaps the best method of conveying an idea of 

 falconry to one who has not witnessed the sport is to 

 describe a day's actual experience. The month is 

 December, and the place Oudh. This means a sunny 

 but perfectly cool day, so that riding, even when the 

 sun is at its zenith, is dehghtful. Our party consists 

 of an Indian gentleman — a Sikh and a large land- 

 holder — who owns the hawks, and three Europeans 

 all well mounted, also the chief falconer, indifferently 

 mounted, who carries on his gloved forearm a goshawk. 



