Chapter XIII Kites and Harriers
Kites [and Harriers].—There are three common species of kites.134 In the first, the two centre tail-feathers, called by the Arabs ʿamūd,135 and by Persian and Turkish136 falconers qāpāq,137 are shorter than the rest, the outer feathers being longer. The general colouring of the plumage is a dirty brown with dark coloured drops on the breast. The feet are small and the tarsi138 short.
2nd Species [Marsh Harrier?].—The second species haunts marshes and reedy pools in quest of frogs and rats. In this species the tarsus is long139 and unfeathered, and the feet are small, ill-looking, and black. There is also a certain amount of white on the head.
3rd Species.—In the third species the general colouring of the plumage—with the exception of the head, which is reddish—is very dark. In habits it resembles the two preceding.
All three species are cowardly and mean-spirited. A good T̤arlān, trained to large quarry, will generally take them.140
Should the fork-tailed kite141 see a sparrow-hawk or merlin with a bird in its feet, it will fuss round it, doing its utmost to steal it from the lucky possessor. If unsuccessful, it returns to its quest of mice and garbage.
These above-described species are related to the eagles. Under this head, too, I have even included the Carrion Vulture142 and the Scavenger Vulture.143
Footnotes
134 Chīlāq T. The kite is rare in Persia. It is, however, fairly common near Bushire.
135 ʿAmūd Ar., “a prop, a pillar.”
136 Turk. This word properly includes Turks, Tartars, and all who claim their descent from Turk the son of Japhet. A large proportion of the population of Persia is Turkish.
137 Qāpāq, the “deck-feathers” of old English falconers. According to the Boke of St. Albans the centre or uppermost tail-feather was called the beme feder of the tayle, the flight-feathers being called the beme federes of the wyng.
138 Sāq, properly the shin or shank of a man, animal, or bird. Elsewhere the author, with one other exception, uses the word qalam, “a pen, etc.,” for “tarsus.”
139 The Kites have short tarsi, the Harriers, long. In the adult Harriers the iris is yellow, but in the immature birds, of several species at any rate, the iris is brown. The iris of the common Pariah Kite (Milvus govinda) is brown, while that of the “Common Kite” of England (M. regalis) is said to be yellow.