Vol. Ill, No, 3.] Note on the SaJcer or Gherrug falcon, 183 



awakered old memories in her breast i slie did indeed settle on 

 the lure that was hastily cast to her, but her gaze was fastened 

 skywards, and, as her falconer cantionsly approached hef, that 

 startled far-off look came into her ejes ; she slowly spread fier 



wings and disappeared. 



Another exceptionally fine chUz or ' sore-hawk ' * weighed when 

 killing heron 2 lbs. 8 oz. What her wild and mature weight would 

 have been I cannot say. 



For honbara, a young passage-hawk in training should not 

 be allowed to fall helotv 2 lbs. 4 oz. or she will lose too much pace, 

 and will, in a stern chase, be lost. Most sakers fly at houbara all 

 the better for being in very high condition. 



For kite, on the other hand, 2 lbs. 3 oz. will be found a suffi- 

 cient weight, as, if the hawk is flown fatter than this, she will 

 probably not exert herself sufficiently at this difficult and distaste- 

 ful quarry. 



For hare, a saker may be in still lower condition, and it will be 

 found that if reduced to even as low a weight as 2 lbs., she will still 

 kill hares successfully, 



' Intermewed ' hawks are soft and must be kept in higher con- 

 dition than passage-hawks. 



An English falconer told me that he once had a young chargk 

 brought to him for sale in Peshawar in 1892 or 1893, on the 28tli 

 July. With this exception the earliest date recorded by me is a 

 21st of September when a young ckargh^ said to have been caught 

 a day or two before, was brought to me for sale in Peshawar. 



Sakers leave India in February, about two mouths before the 

 peregrines, and the migrating instinct seems to stir more powerfully 

 in them. In the spring, when unhooded, they will sometimes gaze 

 into the sky and cry plaintively. One sign of their becoming 

 mast is bobbing before rousing. Does the saker nest earlier than 

 the peregrine ? Probably. 



The latest date on which I have observed this falcon was the 

 28th of February 1906, when T caught a young bird on the Jarma 

 Maira near Kohat. On the 26th February in the following year 

 I observed a * haggard' on the same spot; it could not have 

 arrived more than a day or two before, and by the following 

 morning it had left. On the 7th of March the same year I had 

 a harak'^ flown near Hoti Mardan without any success, nor could I 

 hear of any chargh having been seen near the place for some days. 



As already stated more than one race appears to visit the 

 Punjab, entering by the passes on the North. The migrants are 

 then caught by haralcs^ as they cross certain open plains. A few 

 are also caught by the nooses known as pTiaH and pa-dSm^ the bait 

 employed being either a field-rat,^ or else a c^uail tethex'ed by the 



1 * Sore-hawk/ a., a hawk of the first year. From the Fr. sor, or 

 reddish brown ; whence sorrel. • ♦ •, — Hnrting. 



a For a description ftnd figure of a hdrak Wide' JI. of Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal, Yol. III., No, 1, January 1907. 



3 The rat's teeth are broken, and, 1 think, the eyes are seeled. 



