Vol. Til, No. 3.] Note on the Saker or Gherrng Falcon. 1S7 



[N.8.'] 



day in this month. In the middle of March, when the spring- 

 restlessness has passed, the danger is less. In nature, and in 

 style of %ing, the *haggHrd' cliargh is more like the peregrine 

 than is the cJiuz or young ' passage -hawk.' It is more intelligent, 

 and more quickly trained to the lure and entered to wild quarry; 

 but it requires a greater amount of * carriage ' to man it. 



Eastern falconers prefer the saker to the pei'egrine. It is 

 hardier, requires less careful feeding, is plucky, moults easily 

 and quickly,' is not restless and will consequently sit unhooded 

 and quiet on the fisf, will still work if not in quite the right 

 condition, and, too, unlike a peregrine, it can be quickly fat- 

 tened up if too thin. In the Chhach-Hazara District of the 

 Punjab, where there are numerous splashes of water holding 

 duck and teal, the peregrine is naturally preferred. Sakers caught 

 in Bushire, in the Persian Gulf, and taken for sale to Basora, fetch 

 as much as seventy rupees ; but in the north of the Punbjah the 

 price varies from three to ten. Englishmen, however, prefer 

 the peregrine, partly for its air of breeding, partly because of its 

 style of flying, and partly because it can be flown at varying game. 

 The same saker can be flown at houbara and owls and perhaps at 

 hare as well, but if one is trained to kite, heron, crane, or gazelle 

 it should be kept for this one flight only. Lieut.-Colonel E. Delme 

 Radcliffe, speaking of the "Desert Falcons," in his pamphlet on 

 Falconry, says: *' They are dirty birds and have a strong smell 

 and are quite unfit for pets. The better you treat tliem the worse 

 they fly ; and as a rule they must be kept to their work by conti- 

 nual physicking and wa&hed meat, the latter being better for them 

 if rather stinking. They are shy and crafty by nature and it is 

 utterly impossible to break them of the habit of carrying.** 



These remaiks sufficiently prove that the author nevei* 

 bothered himself wath sakers, Sakers have no special smell 

 and make, moreover, gentle and interesting pets. During the eaily 

 days of training before they are * manned,* that is, before they 

 are sufficiently tame to preen themselves thoroughly when un- 

 hooded, they are sure to be troubled by large bird-lice,* especially 

 so if the feathers have been wetted. These vermin are, however, 

 easily destroyed in one night, by the common Indian remedy of a 

 little mercury mixed with saliva, or even by some insect powders ; 

 and if the hawks be kept clean and in high condition, and apart 

 from other infected birds, the lice will not return. K'ative fal- 

 coners generally keep their hawks in low condition and stroke 

 them with dirty greasy fingers that have jast snuffed a mustard- 

 oil lamp. Such birds are always troubled with lice. Natives do 

 indeed physic continually, but this is generally unnecessary, and is 

 certainly overdone. For higli flights such as at kite and heron, 

 two or three purges during the season are perhaps necessary, but 



1 CharghH are often clean moulted by September, peregrines rarelj so 

 before Xmaa- 



2 Tn a wild state lice are caught from kites. I do not, however, recollect 

 snaring any * haa't^iird ' saker that had lice in it. 



