Vol. II, No. 10.] Note on the Common Kestril. 527, 
[N.S.] 
66. Note on the.Common Kestril (Tinnunculus alaudarius).—B 
Iaevt.-Cotonet D, C, Partiorr, Secretary, Board of Examiners. 
In the Kapaurthala State the Common Kestril is, by_ bird. 
catchers and falconers, called Reg?, a name elsewhere in the 
Panjab given to the English pies Amongst Panjab falconers 
generally, it is known by the name of Larzanak or ‘the Little 
Quiverer,” and amongst Peane 3 Bad-Farukh, probably a cor- 
ruption of Bad Khurak, a term nearly equivalent to the English 
“Windhover.” In the Chhach district of the Panjab (Lawrence- 
pore, Hazru, etc.) it is called Shik. 
According to Blanford it builds in the Himalayas above 7,000 
feet. On 12th June 189], however, I took two young birds from 
a nest in the chimney o of the church at Abbottabad, Panjab, the, 
height of Abbottabad peine about 4,000 feet. The young had no 
down left on the feathers, though the tail-quills were only about 
three inches lon I aie also observed the Kestril during 
the breeding season in the Baleinen Range, in the Rakhni Plain, 
massing imei height about 3,500 feet, and at Fort Munro just 
above Rakhni, height about 6, 
The Kestril is easily caught i in a do-gaza with a mole-cricket 
ee ghi,an) as a bait. 
the Chhach-Hazara District it is sometimes used as a 
oa 1 for the English Merlin, two or three inches of the end of its 
tail being previously cut off. 
According to the Baz-Nama-yi Nasiri* it is, round Bushire 
and in other parts of the Dashtistan-¢ Fars, used in the following 
manner as a decoy for snaring saker falcons. Being caught and 
to its legs, at the end of the string is a small bunch of 
feathe Thus trained and prepared, it is cast in the air to 
“wait on.” From a distance it appears as thongh it were circling 
u : 
says the writer, “that the hawk seizes the pigeon, it falls into 
the snare”; but what particular kind of snare is adopted he 
does not inform us. Persian »nd Arab gentlemen, whom I have 
visited at Ba hdad, eee Muhammarah, and Shiraz, have 
confirmed this descri 
he same author ays that he has himself seen the Arabs x 
‘Unayzakand Shammar using the ‘ eyess ’* kestril totrain greyhoun 
pups that are intended for gazelle-hawking. The nestling is 
1 Barak, a hawk used as a decoy: it has horse-hair nooses attached to 
its feet. 
2A modern Persian work on falconry. 
3 * Wait Py ; eo high over the falconer’s head waiting for the 
quarry to be 
4A pat hawk or falcon taken from the nest (eyrie). 
