Note 505 — Chapter XXXIV · EYESS SAKER AND GAZELLE[491]

Sakers are passionately fond of the hubara as a quarry: they will never relinquish a chase as long as there is any chance of success: they will fly the hubara even when they are not very hungry. The hubara, when put up with a hawk just behind it, flies faster than is commonly supposed, especially in the Spring when it is fat and in high condition. A passage saker intended for this quarry should not, I think, weigh less than 2 lbs. 4 oz. and should have been brought into hard condition by being exercised twice daily at the lure; twenty-five stoops at each exercise are sufficient. A wild saker seldom exceeds 2 lbs. 8 oz. in weight. A haggard of the editor’s that weighed when caught 2 lbs. 9½ oz., when killing hubara weighed 2 lbs. 6½ oz. (For kite 2 lbs. 3 oz. will be found a sufficient, and generally a suitable weight. For hare a weight of 2 lbs. is sufficient. Beginners should note these weights and so spare themselves much disappointment.)