Note 72 — Chapter IV · THE PĪQŪ[72] SPARROW-HAWK
D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott translation
The Pīqū is merely the common Shikra of India (Astur badius—Blan.). In a wild state this hawk preys on lizards, small birds, rats, mice, locusts, and occasionally doves. I have once or twice seen it chase the common Indian ground squirrel round and round a tree, hovering in the air close to the tree and making sudden darts to the opposite side, the squirrel all the time keeping the trunk between it and its pursuer and chattering shrilly. I once caught a “haggard” shikra in a do-gaza, with a very large homing pigeon—a cock Antwerp—as a bait. The net had been set up for an eagle. Vide note 61, page 12.