A Morning with the Mehtars Falcons 131 



Of all the hawks in use in Chitral, the goshawk 

 is most esteemed. She is, par excellence, the 

 hawk for a mountainous country, where long nights 

 are not wanted. Next in order, in the Chitrali's 

 estimation, comes the Shahin. The bigger long- 

 winged falcons go too far ; and once out of view, 

 their recovery in this extremely difficult country 

 is always doubtful. They are lost to sight behind 

 some mountain spur, and when this happens, are 

 frequently lost altogether. The nature of the 

 country, indeed, renders the long and high flights 

 so admired in the long-winged hawks elsewhere 

 anything but desired in Chitral ; and so, as a 

 matter of necessity, they are treated and trained 

 very similarly to the short-winged hawks. Thus, 

 though the lure is thrown up to attract them, they 

 are taught to return to the fist like the latter. 

 Chitrali falconers, who can do anything with 

 hawks, could no doubt teach them easily enough 

 to soar above their heads on the look-out for game, 

 or "wait on," as it is called; but it is practically 

 never done. It is in the training of the wild- 

 caught goshawk, normally completed in fourteen 

 days and frequently in less, that the perfection of 

 the Chitrali's skill is shown. Marvellous as the 

 feat may seem, there is really nothing esoteric 

 about it. The result is achieved by constant care 

 and attention, the methods used, including " wak- 



