TRAINING PIGEONS IN THE EAST. 215 



Pigeons are quite able to pick up grain for themselves, and then 

 they are separated from their parents. I say that in India they 

 are separated after forty days, and this separation in Hindi is 

 called torana. If the } T oung ones are intended to be brought up 

 under other Pigeons than their own parents, it can only be done 

 before their first feathers begin to sprout, for should the other 

 Pigeons with whom they are placed discover that they are not 

 their own offspring they are sure to kill them. They will only 

 nourish them under delusion, while mistaking them for their own. 

 In forty days the young ones learn to pick up grain for themselves, 

 and have no difficulty in digesting it. In twenty-four hours they 

 are fed thrice— viz., at 6 a.m., at 12 at noon, and lastly at 6 p.m. 

 A young Pigeon can eat an ounce of grain ; a flying Pigeon takes 

 one ounce generally, but one intended to lay is allowed two ounces. 

 Those that are used to fly get a full crop only after they have 

 done their work satisfactorily — i. e. after they have been flying in 

 the air for a good while. The pairs receive their food three 

 times a-day. 



Abul Fazl states that the young Pigeons of the Emperor 

 were delivered to his Pigeon-keepers, who used to make them 

 bathe in earthen vessels, whereby they increased their strength 

 and became familiar with the place. I say that in India they are 

 kept in narrow-mouthed earthen vessels to shelter them from 

 cold, although this is only in winter, and not at any other 

 season. 



According to Abul Fazl, when a young one is three months old, 

 and has gained strength and grown familiar with the place, its food 

 is reduced to a third or fourth part of what it used to get, and as 

 soon as it has got used to hunger, it is made to fly gradually till 

 it can fly forty times a-day, and this is called by Akbar, bhuree. 

 Flying once in the air and then coming back he calls hawa. I say, 

 however, that flying off, taking a turn, and then coming back 

 wheeling round downwards is called hawa. Rising from the nest, 

 perching on a wall, coining back at command, and descending at 

 sight of the grain, is called bharee, plural bharyan. Tadyana is a 

 term applied to the movements on the ground of a young Pigeon, 

 or any other bird not quite grown up. Abul Fazl asserts that the 

 flights or feats of a Pigeon at this stage of life are not trustworthy 

 or reliable. I say that the flight of a young Pigeon is not a 

 parvaz, but bltaree or taiva — i. e. jumping and making a circular 



