Part 2 — CHAPTER XXIV THE SANGAK[278]
D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott translation
CHAPTER XXIV THE SANGAK[278]
This “falcon” closely resembles the Indian Sparrow-Hawk,[279] but the young bird is smaller and darker in colouration. Also it has not the dark stripe under the chin.[280] The only difference between the two is that the Sangak is black-eyed while the Pīqū is yellow-eyed.[281]
In the jungle it preys chiefly on locusts and frogs, but occasionally kills a small wounded or diseased bird. It haunts “gardens,” and, like the hobby, nests in trees. However, it is a bird impotent and unvalued, except for its tail, which can be used for “imping”[282] that of a pīqū.
The “intermewed” bird and the nestling are identical in plumage, and cannot be distinguished from each other.
FOOTNOTES:
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · I am unable to identify this hawk.Note 2 · Pīqū or pīg͟hū, the shikra of India.Note 3 · Usually present in the young as well as in the old shikra.Note 4 · Arzaq-chashm, properly “blue-eyed.” Young shikras have sometimes bluish grey eyes.Note 5 · “Imp to” is to repair broken flight- or tail-feathers by sewing in, “grafting,” etc.: for methods vide Badminton Library.