THE BIRDS OF PREY OF THE PUNJAB, 



291 



Measurements. 



Habits, etc. 



" Length of a female about 22" ; tail 9 ; wing 15-5; 

 tarsus 2-2; mid-toe without claw 2; bill from gap] 

 1 • 45 ; length of male 19' 5 ; tail 8 ; wing 14- 5" (Blan- 

 ford). 



This fine falcon is a ^vinter visitor to the plains of 

 India and though by no means a common bird even, 

 in mid winter in most parts of the Punjab a goo 1 

 manj^ are caught and brought into the Amritsar mar- 

 ket for sale from the western Punjab and Bikaneei-. 

 This is a desert species and seldom to be seen near 

 jungle or cultivation, though I caught one in Wazira- 

 bad many years ago, right in the very heart of miles 

 of cultivation. 



The food of this species for the most part is said to 

 be the Spiny-tailed lizard {Uromastix hardivickii) but 

 rats and mice do not come amiss and the one above 

 mentioned had recently caught a frog and came down 

 to a mynah a few minutes later. 



The Saker is much prized for falconry and trained 

 to gazelle, kite, houbara, grass owl, etc., and it would 

 be difficult to say which quarry fm-nishes the least 

 sport. 



]\Iore than once I have lost sight of both falcon and 

 quarry when the latter was the grass owl, as the pair 

 ringed and circled almost directly overhead, and on 

 one occasion the falcon was not found till the following 

 evening. The first Saker I ever flew at a Kite gave 

 the most extraordinary exhibition I have ever seen 

 and the kite, perhaps, was the most surprised object 

 on earth or in the sky, that day. The falcon liew 

 straight at the kite as soon as she was slipped, made a 

 half hearted attack and then turned half right and 

 went straight away, much to the amusement of a 

 couple of friends who had come to see the fun. '" If 

 that is a sample of falconry I can't say much for it " 

 and similar remarks were not lacking, as we watched 

 the falcon getting smaller in the dim distance. 



I told the falconer to call her back, but the old 

 fellow was quite indignant at the idea, and merely 

 remarked "You just wait and see Sahib, she is a 

 tiger and is not going to disappoint us like that " 

 or words to that effect. 



We watched and the falcon disappeared from view 

 altogether and even the old falconer began to have 

 qualms that he had seen the last of the bhd. 



The kite, in the meantime had risen to a consider- 

 able height and had not been in the least alarmed by 

 the falcon's half-hearted attack, and still circled round 

 in the company of some half a dozen vultures. 



The old falconer was the fii st to spot the falcon again 

 and in a very ecstasy of delight shouted out, '" Look 

 Sahib, look, did'nt I tell you she was a tiger, and 

 now you will see." High up, a tiny speck against 

 the sky, came the falcon from the direction whither 

 she had gone and having reached well over the 

 vultures and kite she simply shut her whigs. M.nd 



