218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



with the strong medicines and food which those of Persia and 

 Turkestan make use of. This may also be accounted for by the 

 fact that either the Pigeons of the ancient noble race are no 

 longer procurable, or that the climate of this country does not suit 

 them. Abul Fazl says that in ancient times a lot of Pigeons, 

 called a sath or tukri, consisted only of eleven or twenty-one 

 Pigeons, and that in Akbar's time it consisted of 101 Pigeons. 

 At the present day, however, a sath of only eleven or twenty-one 

 Pigeons is absurd and contemptible. Now-a-days a sath has 

 no fewer than fifty or one hundred. If the number is less than 

 that it is called a tukri, and not sath. The native gentry and 

 other Kabutar-baz of Delhi and Lucknow have from 100 to 150 in 

 a sath designed for bhagna work only, and this is the largest 

 number of Pigeons that can safely be kept and flown together 

 without fear of dispersal in the air. But a sath intended for 

 larai — i.e. for meeting and mingling with other Pigeons— may 

 consist of from 150 to 200. These, however, keep close to the 

 ground, and do not fly to any distance ; they only fly over and 

 around their tah and their keeper's place. Any increase above 150 

 in a bhag flock would result in many being dispersed and perhaps 

 lost. Similarly, in a larai- ka- sath, if there are more than 200 

 birds, many of them are sure to get confused, and would probably 

 lag behind and perch upon the walls and minarets of the neigh- 

 bouring buildings. 



Abul Fazl says that the Emperor's Pigeons fly and make bazi 

 at night also. I say that the Pigeons that can fly at night are 

 Kabuleez [i. e. from Kabul] and Vilaiti, which are by far the most 

 sharp-sighted, high-flying, and strong-winged. In the time of 

 the late Akbar Shah II., and also in that of Bubadur Shah, the 

 last King of Delhi, a Kabutar-baz of Lucknow had a sath of 

 nearly 100 Pigeons. Another flock belonging to a certain Eunveh, 

 the Nazir Mahal, named Munzoor Ali Khan, sallied from their 

 tah, and proceeding as far as Agsveri Gate, nearly a quarter of a 

 mile from their place, made a fava there, and the Pigeons of Meer 

 Baba Ali (a Kabutar-baz of Delhi in the service of the King) 

 encountered them there, intercepted their progress, and brought 

 back seven of the Eunveh's Pigeons with them to their keeper's 

 place. This is called Kabutar-ka-Warlena. To entice another 

 man's Pigeons to his tah in company with his own birds is 

 considered a great credit to a Kabutar-baz. 



