Part 2 — CHAPTER XXVI THE SHRIKE
D. C. (Douglas Craven) Phillott translation
Amongst the “black-eyed” birds of prey must be classed a small sparrow-like bird, grey and black in colouring. In the Kurdish language it is called bāzūrī, and in Persian ālā güzkina.[300] In size it is somewhat larger than a sparrow: the wings are dark: the eyes have a dark line of antimony:[301] the claws and beak are black, sharp, and powerful. When trained, it kills with ease sparrows and the small tisks[302] found in the wheat and barley, in Spring. It also comes well to the lure from a distance.
There are two species. One grey and black with the antimony line under the eyes, and one yellowish. The former is decidedly the better.[303]
FOOTNOTES:
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · This is Turkish, not Persian. Persian Turks call the shrike ālā güzina also. In Shaw’s Turki Vocabulary (Appendix by Scully), Lanius HomeyerNote 2 · Surma kashīda; antimony is applied by means of a needle to an Eastern’s eye, underneath the lashes of the under lids, and to the outer corneNote 3 · Tisk may be the Short-toed or Social Lark. In Shiraz, however, tisk is the name of a warbler like a white-throat, called in Kirman turnusk, Note 4 · The Indian Grey Shrike (Lanius lahtora), called in the Derajat laṭorā and mamālā, used to be trained in Dera Ismail Khan to catch small bird