

^ i 



42 



Note on the Shahin Falcons {Falco pei 



and F, havhariiH^ Blanford). 



By Lieut-Colonel D. 0. Phillott, Secretary, Board of Examzver^. 



In India, the female of tlie shahhis is called shahin and Tcohl ; 

 the male sJiahtncha and hohela^ and in Persian manuscripts 

 written in India shahin hachcha. The word kohi is derived from 

 the Persian word koh ' a hill, an epithet said to have been given 

 to this falcon to distinguish it from the peregrine, bahrtj " beloiig- 

 ing to seas or lakes." In Turki the shoJiin is called lachhi ^ and 

 in Arabic, according to Jerdon, kaharsh. 



Blanford distinguishes two species of ' * shahin,' FaJco peregri- 

 natovy which includes the F. atriceps of Hume, and F. harharus 

 the F. habyloniciis or " Red-headed Lanner " of Jerdon. Lieut.- 

 Colonel E. Delme-Radcliffe, in his pamphlet Falconry^ says of 

 F. peregrinatar : ''It is no doubt very closely allied to the Barbary 

 falcon of Africa, and * * *.'* 



Panjabi falconers, however, recognise only one species, but 

 distinguish F, peregrinator by the name kali shahin or " black 

 shahin, " andi^. barfearz^s by the names lnlsha]%tn and la l-str shahin, 

 ** red shahin " and " red-headed shahin." Two English falconers 

 have told me that they have taken these two species or varieties, 



the " black " and the " red," out of the same nest. 



In the Panjab the " black shahin " is rare, the " red " fairly 



In the Kapnrthala State newly-caught young birds of 



common. 



ft 



both kinds used to be sold for eight annas or a rupee. 



Jerdon states that a female peregrinator weighs 1 lb. 10 02. A 

 young female " red shahin," in good condition, weighed on a 20th 

 September when just caught in Kohat 1 lb. 3| 02. A hagj^ard 

 " black shahin " brought to me in Kohat on a third October 

 weighed 1 lb. 14 oz. Tliis bird had not then cast the first flight 

 feathers of its previous year's plumage and its second flight- 

 feathers were two or three inches short of their full length. The 

 weight of a haggard tiercel *' red shahin " caught by me in Kohat 

 on a 26th January was 1 lb. 3 oz. A female has usually 17 or 18 

 scales on the middle toe. 



The "red shahin" nests in the hills near Dera Ghazi Khan, 

 Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, and Peshawar, and I have several 

 times heard of nestlings being taken in the Salt Range, 



^ In modern Persian kith* 



^ According to Scnlly, F. harharus is called Idchin in Yarkand. 



3 According to Blanford F. jfwregrinafor is found as a resident throngh- 

 ont India, Ceylon^ and Burma, though nowhere common ; while F. harharus is 

 a " winter visitor into North-western India as far south aa the Nerbndda, 

 and as far east as Ondh. A single specimen was obtained near Baipur, C.P. 

 by Mr. Thompson.*' c '* 



