Note 191 — Chapter XVIII · THE PEREGRINE (BAḤRĪ)

Delicate compared to the saker, the falcon most prized by Orientals. In Baghdad (in 1900-01) the price of a peregrine had risen from three to ten rupees, whereas a saker was said to be worth as much as seventy rupees. In the Panjab, sakers range from Rs. 3 to Rs. 7. The Saker is, by most Easterns, preferred to the Peregrine, as it is hardier and can, to a certain extent, be fed on butcher’s meat, and still work well; whereas it is impossible to keep a peregrine in first-class condition without a constant supply of doves and pigeons, or birds whose flesh is equally good. Further, in the desert, the crops are scanty, and in consequence the houbara cannot always be marked down in their feeding grounds, but have to be laboriously beaten for by a long line of mounted men in open order; even a young saker will sit barefaced on the rider’s fist without bating, but keeping a sharp look out for the quarry, which, by running round the line or dodging through the intervals, may escape the keen sight of the beaters, but not the keener sight of the falcon.