44 Journal of tlie Asiatic Society of Beng-d. [January, 1907. 



while the hnralc is in the air, in wMcli case both bir*^ fall 

 togetlier to the ground ; or, reacting the spot after the^ harak feas 

 settled, it may make one or two stoops and so eventually get 

 entangled - 



If, aftei 



appearance 



catcher approaches the 6/7 raAr and secures it by means of a stick, 

 whicb he stretches out and inserts between its legs, over the 

 hobble. If the stick is not used, or if the eyes of the hnrak are 

 not seeled, it will probably rise and fly off a few hundred yards 



y tune its owner gets withm a tew leei 

 The hnrak is flown repeatedly in th 



and hawks and other birds 



tUl the sun 



gets too bot 



gilt in 



>ler atmosphere. It is also flown again in the 

 late afternoon till dusk. The lagar being a hardy bird bears all 



this fatigue. 



Besides clwrghs a good deal of rubbish is also caught, harri- 

 ers, kites, buzzards, small eagles, and other lugafs. On these 

 the haraki feeds, not only bis bamks, but also the falcons he 



catches. 



Whether large eagles are ever secured by a bnrak, I cannot 

 say. The first time I flew a hdrak^ a Ring-tailed Fisb Eagle 

 [Haliaetus letucornphu v Blan.) J swooped down on the harak 

 when it was in the air, got entangled in the nooses, and trium- 

 phantly bore off the whole. Improvidently, I liad not provided 

 myself witb a second haraky but Ah picW^^e kya hot hai jnh 

 chiryon chug ya'^ln Jchet, ''What is the good of crying when the 

 birds have eaten the field?" Abu Fazl in his queer Persian 



writes of the lagar 



char gh 



tiercel. Nooses ai^e suspended from it, and birds' feathers ai^ 

 tied to its claws, and it is then made to fly. Birds of prey, mis- 

 taking the bunch of feathers for some quart^^ attempt to. snatcb 

 it away : one of them gets entanpled, and becoming suspended, 

 both birds fall to the ground. " ^ 



It remains to be said that the usual bait for a Ziu/ar is a 

 span^ow. 



Row do you catch sparrows ? Nothing easier. Go after dai-k 



into any out-house in any village. Get a man to stand in a 



comer, face to the wall, with a lighted candle, and make him 



■cover himself with a sheet Then poke about in the roof and 



disturb the span^ows. As they flutter out they AviU make for the 



lighted corner, where all your assistant has to do is to stoop and 

 pick them up. 



Another, perhaps even better bait, is a quail, and a quail 



I Called kurl iu the Punjab from its wild and not uamuaical T,ote. The 

 Valle ^^ '^ '^ """^^^^ '"^ Kaslimir, is one of the familiar sounds of the 



»!■ 



At Bebal, a stage :.nd a half from Bhakkar on the Sind-Sa^r Line 

 I found a nest o. 24th February, 1899, with two young birds able to^^ w^lT. 



\ ^f "^-^ ^fc'"'" •• A^un-i bist u Jutflam ; duftavi duvvam. Blochman " 

 translation as regards this and other hawking matters is inaccurate. 



