The art and practice of hawking - Modern Prepper

THE BIRDS USED IN HAWKING 23
is a distinct moustachial stripe. The under parts are buffcoloured,
liberally streaked with splashes of dark brown, especially
on the flanks ; but the buff colour grows lighter on the
upper parts, and at the chin becomes nearly white. The cere,
legs, and feet are pale bluish or greenish grey.
In adults the head becomes much lighter, and sometimes
dull white, but with a more or less rufous brown tint and
streaks of darker colour. The upper parts are dull and rather
pale brown, the feathers margined, and in some parts barred,
with light fulvous buff. The flight feathers are faintly barred
with a lighter brown, and all the tail feathers barred with light
buff The sides of the face, chin, throat, and breast are nearly
white, the latter being spotted rather than streaked with brown,
but not transversely barred. The moustachial streak fades
away. The cere, feet, and legs assume a more or less pronounced
yellow colour.
The saker is a tolerably common bird throughout almost the
whole of Central and Southern Asia, and is there very highly
valued for practical purposes. It was also largely imported
into Western Europe in the Middle Ages, and later it was
used even in France and England for the flight at kites. It is
for this fine sport that it is now chiefly prized in India. The
list of quarry taken by this very serviceable hawk is extremely
large, and includes, besides the various kinds of tropical kites,
hubara, or bustard, herons, black ibis, ducks, and a whole
host of smaller birds. The flight at the short-eared owl is
especially fine, and the quarry often rings, and attains to
a very great height before the saker can get up. The female
saker will take hares well, and also ravine deer.
The tiercel of the saker is more properly called a sakret,
sakeret, or sackeret. This hawk is the largest of those called
desert-hawks or desert-falcons.
Lanner {Falco lanarius)
Female— Length, i8 inches; wing, 13.3; tail, 7.2. Male or
"Lanneret" — Length, i6i inches ;
wing, 12; tail, 6|-.
The dimensions of this desert-hawk do not differ widely
from those of the peregrine, but the feet are much smaller, and
the tail longer. The feathers are of an inferior quality, and the
light colour of the head prevents all risk of confusion. The
wings are slightly longer and heavier. Young birds have the
whole back up to the nape of the neck and down to the tail
coverts dark brown, each feather tipped with a lighter and