264 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. (May, 1908. 
astern, or once a day according to the Western custom, is merely 
a paises matter, for te amount of food given in the twenty-four 
hours should be the s 
‘he morning is ie el time for hawking, so if the falconer 
can manage to fly his hawks in the morning, well and good ; let 
them be fed once a day, and in the morning. When, however, 
beating all day for houbara in the desert where it is not always 
possible to have houbara marked down, or if the falconer wishes 
As already stated, the bést food for hawks is "Gee or dove flesh. 
Asa make-shift, crows! may be given. The difference between 
feeding a hawk on crows pel pigeons is the difference between 
feeding a pony on gram and oats, Indian falconers style all the 
flesh of one wing and one side of the breast of a bird, a ba A 
g meal the two w, and as an evening 
meal the two baghl and the two thighs. The heart, | d 
gall-bladder can ven. t or more of eac 
be given fresh and warm on the lure, and two-thirds wetted, é.e., 
.- while the hawk is pulling on the fist, well-water or water ‘with 
the chill off, should be continually dabbed on the meat with the 
left hand. Indian falconers, through laziness, cut up the meat 
and add water to it, giving it to the hawks as wet as possible 
Hawks, Severe, should get as much pulling-exercise (‘tiring’) 
as possible. A casting of wetted feathers and a _sprin ling of 
clean river gravel, the grains about the size of a pin’s head, should 
be given after the evening meal; and occasionally when the 
Winther is very cold, two or three seeds of the large cardamoms 
is on one-and-a-half to one-and-three-quarters of a crow, It will 
be found that the weight of the morning meal is a little more than 
33 tolas (about 13 oz.) and of the evening about 6 tolas. [Mitchell 
mentions that the day, allowance for a peregrine falcon is about a 
third of a pound of beef.] Natives are fond of giving goat’s 
g bg 
about a third more than the above quantity should be given; but, 
as aeady stated, even to a chargh or Aa butcher's et should 
rarely be given, and to a peregrine n 
awk has been aconstonene ty be fed twice a day, i 
should not be allowed to go too long in the morning without aa. 
or it will feel faint. If not fed as usual before noon, it will cer- 
tainly lose a little condition. The hawk that is to be flown last 
may get a very light meal, with water, in the morning, before 
starting to beat for houbava, one or two hawks being kept unfed 
for the early flights. 

1 In Scotland the peregrine is said to prey largely on carrion-crows and 
ies. 


