170 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



holds in one hand, into the sleeves of his khalat a long, loose 

 overcoat ; in the other hand he holds a net, similar to the 

 one described above. Thus equipped, he proceeds to the 

 field sown with lucerne or millet. There he begins to imitate 

 the flight of the eagle. Walking along, he moves the stick 

 with the khalat gently from side to side, or, stopping, begins 

 to wave the khalat quicker and describing circles. The 

 quail, seeing this terrible monster, tries to run away, but, 

 being overtaken by the sham eagle, shrinks away somewhere 

 into a hole or bush. The sportsman describes a few circles 

 over the bird, and then secures him by covering him with 

 the net. This kind of sport is also resorted to by the 

 inhabitants of Samarcand. 



Yet another method is with a kind of bag- shaped landing 

 net. Early in the morning, the sportsman, accompanied by 

 common house-dogs, which are trained to walk a few paces 

 in front to start the game, enters the field, carrying the net, 

 which has a long handle, holding it with both hands a little 

 to the right. When the quail rises, the sportsman, by a very 

 clever movement, covers the bird with the net, and then by 

 giving the latter a rapid turn or twist, the game is secured. 

 This, however, appears to be poor sport, six or seven birds 

 being all that can be caught during an entire morning, and 

 to achieve this even the sportsman must be well up to his 

 work. 



Again, Bellew says, in his " Journal of a Mission to 

 Afghanistan," that in the early summer quails visit the 

 corn fields and vineyards about Candahar in vast numbers ; 

 they are usually caught in a large net thrown over the 

 standing corn at one end of the field, and are driven towards 

 this by a noise produced by a rope being drawn over the 

 corn from the other end, a man on each side of the field 

 holding one end of it. When a quail has been beaten in 

 fight his owner at once catches him up and screams in his 

 ear. This is supposed to frighten the remembrance of his 

 defeat out of his mind. 



