194 BOOKS ON FALCONRY. 



of Harrier {^Circus), as suggested by Hammer Purgstall. Accord- 

 ing to the Russian naturalist, Pallas (No. 326), the proper 

 mode of spelling this word is Kara-tschagyl — i.e., "black eagle," 

 which is said to be the Golden Eagle in the dark immature 

 plumage ; called also in Turkish Kara-Kusch or black bird, it is 

 used by the Tartars, Calmucks, Mongols, and Tangutes for 

 catching deer, wolves, and foxes, and is called by the Tartars 

 Berkui or Barkut (Persian Bargut). 



The Taghrul from the description given seems to be some 

 kind of eagle, but cannot be, as Hammer Purgstall supposes, 

 Pallas's Sea Eagle. It is probably the Tschagyl, above mentioned. 



The Lesak, or Kilitsch Kusch, which he identifies with the 

 Hobby, Schlegel thinks more likely to be the Kestrel, although 

 he overlooks the fact that this bird is of no use to falconers. 



In translating the Turkish word Tshakir (Arabic, Sakr) — i.e., 

 the Saker— by the German word Hahicht (Goshawk), he has 

 overlooked the statement of the Turkish author that his bird 

 had dark eyes, not yellow ones, and was therefore a long-winged 

 falcon, and not a short- winged hawk. 



Finally, the bird referred to by the name Otilga, and con- 

 sidered doubtful by Hammer Purgstall (p. xvii.), is in all 

 probability the Saker, which is known to the Kirghis as Itelgoe, 

 or Jfelgui, though according to Pallas (No. 326) this name is 

 applied by the Bashkirs to the female Jerfalcon. 



Mr. Sidney J. A. Churchill, now on the British Legation at 

 Tehran, writes that he has examined a Persian MS. in the 

 possession of Mr. J. Fargues, the Superintendent of the Indo- 

 European Government Telegraph Department at Tehr^m, which 

 appears to be a copy of the work referred to by Dr. Rieu, and 

 that Hammer Purgstall's text is a Turki version of it. The MS. 

 at Tehrkn was copied a.h. 1236 — i.e., a.d. 1820. The author 

 states that " his friends suggested that he should gather together 

 the experience of masters of the craft, and their books, and that 

 which was in accordance with the laws of Nature, composed by " 

 various writers named by him, and dated in the years a.h. 

 569, 571, 590, and 592, equivalent respectively to a.d. 1173, 

 1175, ii93,and 1195. It is therefore a compilation. He adds 

 that he had heard that books had been found in Baghdad, and 

 that by royal orders the library had been removed to Alex- 

 andria ; and that after Alexander a lady ascended the throne, 



