1919-] Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 151 



a Punjabi Falconer, called Umar Khan, who is a master of 

 his art, and he and I together devote a lot of attention to 

 Shaliins. Now Umar Khan calls both F. peregrinaior and 

 F, babylonicus the '' Shahin " ; if pressed for a separate 

 name for each, he will call the former the " Black Shahin " 

 and the latter the " Red Sahin " (in vernacular, of course), 

 but in his mind he clearly thinks no more of them as 

 separate species than the different types of Falco peregrinus 

 that he separates as " white,''^ ''yellow," and " red." 



Since 1913 I have owned or seen a large number of 

 freshly caught or trained Shahius, which have been all 

 obtained in the Punjab or N.W. Frontier Province ; yet 

 of these, only one could I refer to Falco peregrinator. This 

 was brought to mei on 27 November, 1913, at Jheluni, 

 whence the snow ranges in Kashmir are easily visible on 

 a fine day, while the foothills of Jamuiu are but a short 

 distance avray. It was picked up suffering from a gunshot 

 wound in the breast. The rest have all been unmistakable 

 Falco babylonicus. The majority of these have been caught 

 somewhere towards the foot of the hills in the plains of 

 Campbellpore district, and Umar Khan (whose home is at 

 Hayro) treats it as a commonplace that they breed in those 

 hills, that is, the submontane ranges of the Himalayas from 

 Murree to Attock and Peshawar; a very beautiful young 

 Falcon which he brought me one year, he assured me had 

 been caught practically as a "brancher."^ That they breed 

 fairly close seems most prol)able, as these birds are caught 

 in September and August and sometimes as early as July. 



Possibly some day I may be posted to the extreme north 

 of the Punjab and be able to settle the question, but in the 

 meantime I must reiterate my opinion that the breeding 

 Falon of the N.VV. Frontier Province is Falco babylonicus 

 and not F. peregrinator, but shall be very glad to receive 

 any proofs to the contrary. 

 Yours truly, 



Hugh Whistler, M.B.O.U., F.Z.S. 



Jhaug;, Punjab. (Indian Police.) 



19 September, 1918. 



