72* Note on the Common Merlin (^snlon regulns) 



Bj LiEUT.-CoLOjSEL D. C. Philloit, Secretary^ Board of 



Examiners. 



In tlie Kapurthala State this little falcon is called Retal 

 Turumtl or " Sandy Turumti,"^ but in the Derajat and in some 

 other parts of the Paiijab Begi, a name m the Kapurthala 

 State applied to the Common Kestril. In Persia it is called 

 TurumtaJ^ It is a winter visitant only to the Panjab. The 

 latest date I observed this falcon was a 26th Febiuary, at Kohat, 

 when I observed a newly-arrived haggard on the Jarma plain. 

 The weight of an immature male caught at Kohat on a 1st 

 October was 5J oz. 



In the Derajat it is caught in the following manner : — 

 To a wire hoop of telegraph-wire about 26 upright horse- 

 hair nooses are attached, so that each noose slightly ovei-laps 

 its fellow. Each noose, made of about eight twisted horse-hairs, 

 when set, measures about 2^'' in diameter. When the noose is 

 pulled out straight, it measures eight inches from its slip-knot 

 to the wire hoop, A fine invisible cord is fastened taut across 

 the hoop so as to form a diameter, and to the centie of this 

 diameter the live bait, sparrow or quail, is tethered by a cord 

 four inches in length. 



Tlie horse-hair nooses are made as follows. First the horse- 

 hairs are well washed with soap. Then, to make a single noose, 

 eight to ten hairs are selected and a double knot is made at one 

 end. This knot is held by the right hand, while the fingers^ of 

 the left sever the hairs into two equal portions. Then by twisting 

 the knot with tlie right hand and by gradually running the 

 fingers of the left hand downwards, the hairs are twisted into 

 a rope. This rope is then stretched, the nails of the finger and 

 thumb being afterwards run up and down to remove any uneven- 

 ness. The otiier end is then knotted; a loop is made for a slip. 

 knot, and the far end is passed through the slip-knot. To fasten 

 the noose to the hoop, the end is passed under the wire and then up, 

 and is next bound, four or five times, round itself, being finished 

 off with a half hitch downwards. It is then drawn tight over 

 the wire. Before setting, the nooses should be well wetted 

 and arranged : dry nooses do liot run, or hold properly. 



The merlin cannot be caught in a bal-chhatrt. In a wild 

 state, in the Panjah, it seems to prey chiefly on larks. Freeman 

 in his Practical Falconry states that in Eugland it kills mice, and 



^ Vide Jourh. Asiatic Soo. Bengal, No. 6, Vol. HI, 1907. 



* ' Vide * Bdz-ndma-yi Ndfiru 



