398 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [June, 1907. 



head of the heron, which in its alarmed astonishment fell sprawl- 

 ing on the ground, and was gatherd by the falconer. lb was not 

 sport. It was not even a 'flight/ 



A word on ' artificial flights ' generally- — if they may be so 

 styled — for which natives of India seem to have always had a 

 passion. In the time of Akbar such flights appear to have been 

 specially studied. Abu'1-Fazl writes : — 



" The udapapar ^ is brought from Kashmir. This is a 

 greenish bird smaller than a paroquet ; it has a red beak, long 

 and straight, and two of its tail feathers* are lengthened. It 

 hawks small birds in the air and returns to the fist. Many other 

 birds too are taught to hawk, but it would take too long to detail 

 them all. For instance, the crow * is taught to take sparrows, 

 quails, and mainas." Later he says : 



" Frogs are cunningly trained to catch sparrows, a sight that 

 delights the spectators." 



Apparently, too, one of the Falconets * used to be trained, 

 wild stories regarding its prowess being current ; but as the 

 author remarks, " but what has been related about it has not yet 

 been witnessed by us." ^ 



Travellers have frequently mentioned eagles as a quarry at 

 which Persians * and Arabs flew their hawks, and practical 

 English falconers have doubtless scoffed at these stories. 



The system of training for ' artificial flights ' is probably in 

 all cases the same. Suppose, for instance, it is intended to train 

 a peregrine tiercel to common crane. The first thing to do is to 

 train the hawk to a lure made of crane's wings, A live crane is 

 then procured, its eyes are seeled, its beak is tied up, its claws 

 are cut, its legs are hobbled, its flight feathers are bound together, 

 and a piece of tough meat is tied on to its back. The hawk is 

 entered to this defenceless * train ' as to the dead lure. The 

 dista ce is gradually increased and the crane allowed more and 

 more liberty till at last its eyes are unseeled and it is allowed to 

 flap its wings. The hawk binds to the bit of tough meat on the 

 back, and the string attached to the 'train's' legs is pulled so 



I This word is variously spelt in different MSS. Probably the Green 

 Jay or Oissa sinenfiis of Jerdon {the Green Magpie or Gissa chinensis of 

 Blanford) is referred to. 



* The texts are corrupt and run : 



yty fJ^x^ j#ij, but I think the reading should be iJtyi^H^ 



dwdumlin falconers' jargon would mean the two centre tail feathers. 



3 Kuldgh; probably the common Indian House-crow {Gorvus splendens) 



18 meant. 



* In the texts i^ ^^ and uri^jy*. 

 «. tr^ "^^^.^i^^d method of training safcera to eagles, etc., is given in the 



