Note 179 — Chapter XVII · THE SHĀHĪN[179]

Blanford (Eastern Persia, vol. II., page 103), writes:—“Persian falconers distinguished three varieties of Shahin, the Stambulī, Karabāghī and Fārsī, the first from Western Asia Minor, the second from Circassia, Georgia and Armenia, and the third from Southern Persia. The first has the darkest plumage, the last the lightest.... The Shahin is, however, not so much used in Persia as formerly; indeed, I have never seen it out of the royal mews, except when brought to Bushire, for sale to the Arabs of the opposite coast. The falcon described by Marco Polo as found in the mountains of Paríz near Karmán, can be no other than the Sháhín. The old traveller says, ‘In the mountains of Paríz near Karmán are found the best falcons in the world. They are inferior in size to the peregrine, red on the breast, under the neck and between the thighs; their flight is so swift that no bird can escape them’.”

Considerable confusion exists as to the term Shāhīn. Arab falconers in the Persian Gulf and the Persians of Bushire call the female peregrine shāhīna, and rarely baḥrīya. The Shayk͟hs of Baḥrayn Island procure peregrines from Bushire. The shāhīn (but not the peregrine) seems to be unknown in Baṣrah and Bag͟hdād. An Arabic MS. composed in the tenth century says, “If you desire to possess a shāhīn, then procure one of the peregrine (baḥrī) kind, especially if it be black-backed, ugly-faced, narrow-bodied, short-tailed, large-headed, sunken-eyed, piercing-eyed, large-beaked, deep-mouthed, short-backed, with long flight-feathers, and wings far apart from the body.” The peregrine (baḥrī) is unknown to the falconers of Kirman except by name. The shāhīn, however, is not uncommon in the district. The translator, who was for eighteen months in Kirman, found three nests of the shāhīn and one of the charg͟h. The shāhīns of Pārīz are, however, no longer famous.