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:

[278] I am unable to identify this hawk.

[279] _Pīqū_ or _pīg͟hū_, the _shikra_ of India.

[280] Usually present in the young as well as in the old _shikra_.

[281] _Arzaq-chashm_, properly “blue-eyed.” Young shikras have sometimes bluish grey eyes.

[282] “Imp to” is to repair broken flight- or tail-feathers by sewing in, “grafting,” etc.: for methods _vide_ Badminton Library.