Should a passage falcon with “seeled”[401] eyes come into your possession the first thing is to examine it carefully and classify it. Having decided on the race to which the falcon belongs, fit her with some suitable name such as Ṣult̤ān, Ẓarg͟hām, Fāris, Shabīb, Ḥabīb, Maḥbūb, Shahāb, Badrān, etc.[402] Next fit her with an old hood that is soft and easy, one that will not, by hurting her eyes, make her hood-shy.[403] Let her eyes remain seeled under the hood for three days. Every day when you feed her, call her name. On the third or fourth day, i.e., as soon as she has learnt to feed freely, which she will show by searching eagerly for food when you mention her name, unseel her eyes about two hours to sunset, and then rehood her. Call her name, and when she bends her hooded head in search of food, give her a mouthful or two. Then stroke her on the breast, the thighs, and the wings, and again remove the hood that she may see daylight, and quickly replace it. Continue this treatment till half an hour before sunset. Then set her down and leave her till after the evening prayer.[404] Then again take her on the fist and sit near the lamp, with your back to the wall, so that none may come behind you and your hawk. Again call her name, and when she lowers her head reward her with a mouthful. Stroke her as before. Carry her thus for three or four hours. After that, set her on her perch for the night, fastening the hood tight that she may not cast it during the night.
Early next morning, before sunrise, take the hawk on your fist; sit with a few friends near a lamp or a fire sipping your tea or coffee, and perform your prayers. Every now and then remove the hood for about five seconds, and then rehood. For about three days feed her under the hood, calling her name. Now at early sunrise,[405] on the morning of the third or fourth day, take just sufficient meat for one meal; well wet your hawk under her wings,[406] wash her nostrils, letting a little water enter them, and set her perch[407] in a quiet place in the sun where none can disturb you, and seat yourself near on the ground. Now remove the hood and handle her a little, stroking her breast, head, and neck; then slowly carry your fist close to her perch and induce her to step on to the perch of her own accord.[408] Hold the leash in your hand, and occasionally draw it tight gently to induce her to “rouse.”[409] She is sure, after one of these rousings, to commence oiling her feathers.[410] When you see that she has carried her beak to the oil-bottle[411] near her tail, preparatory to oiling her feathers, you must sit absolutely still; do not pull the leash; keep a guard even over the way you breathe, and let her oil her feathers to her heart’s content.
If she oils her feathers very quickly and then rouses, it is a sign she is well-manned.[412] If after oiling and rousing, she a second time applies her beak to her oil-bottle, it is a sign that she is both well-manned and well-plucked.
Let her remain on the perch a little longer while she preens[410] and straightens[413] her feathers and again rouses with vigour. Immediately she rouses, take in your hand the meat you have ready, and calling her name, induce her to step on to your fist, and reward her as before. Do this a third time, but this time try and induce her to jump to your fist the length of her leash or less. Then call her name and reward her by a good feed. Now hood her and place her on the ground. Call her name and strike on the ground with your hand, in front of her.[414] If she advances even two finger breadths towards the sound, it is sufficient. Reward her by letting her pull and eat two or three mouthfuls of meat, and while she is eating pull off the hood and let her finish her meal and enjoy herself. She will by this means learn that no one wishes to harm her, and that being tame is not at all a bad thing. After feeding her take a small piece of wool, or cotton-wool, and clean her nostrils.[415] Then fasten the braces of the hood tight, and set her on her perch in the shade.[416]
[397] Yak dāna.
[398] Agar bi-dast raw qūsh girift fa-bi-hā.
[399] A farsak͟h or farsang; “a parasang,” about 3¾ English miles. The author uses the word merely to signify a long distance.
[400] “Reclaim,” to make a hawk tame, etc.
[402] Ẓarg͟hām is one of the many Arabic words for a “lion”: Shabīb, “of brilliant youth”: Ḥabīb and Maḥbūb, “loved” and “beloved”: Shahāb, “meteor”: Badrān, an old Persian word, seems to mean “wicked.” All these names, however, are masculine.
[403] Bad-kulāh, “hood-shy.”
[404] The time limit for the evening prayer expires half an hour after sunset.
[405] The author is probably writing of October in the vicinity of either Bushire or Baghdad.
[406] Presumably as in India, water would be blown in a spray out of the mouth and with force, the falconer’s hand being raised and lowered to make the falcon expand her wings and expose the soft feathers underneath. The outer feathers are so arranged as to be a protection against rain, and it is not easy to soak them.
[407] The perch would probably be of the Arab pattern and consist of a pad on an iron spike; vide page 95.
[408] Hawks, even those that have never yet been unhooded since they were caught, know their own perches and have preferences.
[409] “To rouse”; said of a hawk when she makes her feathers stand on end and then shakes herself violently.
[410] Rūg͟han-kashī or rūg͟han-gīrī kardan, “to oil the feathers.” Par-k͟hūn or par-kashī kardan, “to preen and straighten the feathers.”
[411] Mudhun, “oil-bottle,” called in the Boke of St. Albans the “note” (nut?).
[412] “To man” a hawk is to make it tame and accustomed to the presence of human beings.
[413] K͟hadang kardan, lit. “to make straight like an arrow.” According to the Boke of St. Albans a hawk “reformith” her feathers when she straightens them without oiling them.
[414] In the Kapurthala State, sakers that were to be entered to kite were trained in this manner. The hawk, excited by being fed, was hooded and placed on the ground. Then, the lure being banged on the ground, it was taught to snatch at it (in the dark), and rewarded when it “bound” to the lure. The first live kite given as a “train” was presented to it in this manner, i.e., the hooded hawk was induced to “bind” to it as to the lure and was duly rewarded. The hood was then removed and perhaps a little more meat presented through the kite’s feathers. The kite was then forcibly removed and thrown to the distance of one or two feet, and as soon as the hawk bound to it, it was fed up on a fresh warm bird. The eyes of the kite were seeled, its claws tied up, and a string was of course fastened to its leg.
[415] A tame hawk’s nostrils get choked up with blood and dust. Eastern falconers are generally particular about keeping the nostrils clean. One of the advantages of “tiring” is that it induces a flow of water that keeps the nostrils clean. “‘Tiring,’ s., any tough piece (as the leg of a fowl with little on it) given to a hawk when in training to pull at, in order to prolong the meal and exercise the muscles of the back and neck.”—Harting.
[416] The mid-day sun would be too powerful at that time of the year.