522 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X. 



either bird has to take prey <mi of its own element, it resorts more or 

 less to the accipitrine method of clutching. 



The wild falcon, however, seldom following prey much larger than 

 itself, generally " cuts down" its quarry from the air ; and if you see 

 the victim stricken dead to the earth by a blow from above, the slayer 

 following after a moment's rise and hover, you may be pretty sure 

 that the latter is a falcon. This is very well illustrated in the 

 Badminton "Falconry." The novice had better note that what look 

 like forked tails in its plates are the trained hawk's " jesses." 



In this operation, the only weapon used is usually the long hind 

 claw, which ploughs into the back or neck, or is even driven through the 

 skull. The neck is the right point of attack, and is sometimes severed 

 by the stroke. But in some cases, and especially in that of trained 

 hawks attacking quarry larger than they would face if wild, the 

 falcon " binds" and descends to the ground with the still struggling 

 victim held by both ^' clutches." Some hawk-eagles, at times, ^' cut 

 down" prey like a falcon ; the typical hawks very rarely. 



It is a pity to shoot a falcon, but it must sometimes be done for 

 purposes of identification. The first thing noticed, if the bird is in 

 good case, will be the beautiful plumage, suggesting steel scale-armour. 

 Then the second feather in the wing is the longest. In Astur- and 

 Accipiter it is usually the fourth. In Falco the irides are usually dark 

 brown, and in the short-winged hawks yellow or orange, whence the 

 native falconers' distinction of " Kala-chashm" and " Pila-chashm." 

 The whole bird has, alive or dead, an air of high-caste about him that 

 no other flying creaTture can do more than approach. For further dis- 

 tinctions, and especially those between species, this is hardly the place. 



We are pretty well off for falcons. The typical Peregrine is a cold 

 weather visitor, haunting water and marsh. The closely allied 

 Shahin (F. peregrinator) is a resident, but not common, and almost 

 confined to broken or wooded country. 



The Barbary Falcon is a winter visitor to Sind and North Gujarat, 

 a frequenter of open plains. It may very likely breed about Quetta, 

 as its nest has been taken " in the Gumal Pass, near Dera Ismail Khan," 

 and north of that, in the hills. 



Falco jugger should be now spelt " Jaggar," which is the native 

 name of the " Tiercel" or male, as " Laggar " of the female. But 



