334 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



place and the Houbara dead, the hawk still grasping it on the 

 ground. The men would then come up and secure the Falcon, give 

 it a tit-bit to eat and then hood it again," 



" Remounting our ponies and once more extending our line we 

 would go on in the same way and, if luck favoured us, might 

 perhaps get another Houbara. Not every time, however, were we 

 successful, for sometimes the Houbara would succeed in eluding the 

 hawk once and yet again, sometimes, indeed, escaping altogether." 



" By the time we had worked across the plain our appetites 

 would remind us that it was time for lunch so, having selected a 

 suitable spot with some shade if possible, we would dismount and 

 partake of the good cold fowl and Pathan roti provided for us all 

 by Col. Aslam Khan." 



" But the winter days soon close in, even in this land of sun, 

 and, after we had rested, a glimpse at the Western sky showed us 

 that if we wanted any sport en route it was time we once more got 

 into our saddles. Accordingly, mounted once more, we would 

 continue to beat back to the place where we had ordered our traps 

 to wait for us. If our luck was still in the ascendant we might 

 get another run or rather flight, but we generally considered that 

 two birds in a day was a good day's average. Arrived at the road 

 we would say good-bye to Col. Aslam Khan and drive homeward, 

 well wrapped up, for the winters in Peshawar are very cold, 

 pleasantly tired after a delightful day in the most perfect winter 

 climate in Northern India." 



" I am sorry to say that owing to the swift flight of Houbara 

 and Hawk we were never up quite in time to see exactly what 

 happened at the kill or to see the hawk actually striking the 

 Houbara. There seemed to be always a lot of feathers about, and 

 it looked as if there might have been a bit of a tussle between 

 the two, but they might also merely have been knocked out of the 

 Houbara from the force with which, when struck by the falcon, it 

 fell to the ground. We noticed, too, that the Houbara alwaj^s 

 seemed to emit some secretion for there was generally a mess of 

 this around." 



Mr. F. J. Mitchell in eioistola also mentions this curious habit of 

 the Houbara. He writes " the Houbara when pursued often rises 



