Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/359

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—Whatever doubts might have existed in the minds of the incredulous as to the ability of a hawk to capture so large a quarry as a Gazelle, they were effectually dispelled when Captain Burton published his ' Falconry in the Valley of the Indus ; ' and the frontispiece to this book, one of the most spirited and life-like drawings ever furnished by the pencil of Joseph Wolf, depicts a female Goshawk with uplifted wings grasping the head and face of a Gazelle, which she is pulling down in a perfect cloud of dust. It is unnecessary here to criticise this book further than to observe that considering the author did not profess to be either a naturalist or a falconer, and merely related what he had seen, he has made singularly few mistakes in dealing with a very technical subject. For the present purpose it suffices to remind the reader that Captain Burton has described Gazelle-hawking in the Valley of the Indus, where the hawk employed for the purpose is the Goshawk. A near approach to the quarry is made either by stalking or by rapid riding under cover of some kind, and the Goshawk is flown from the hand at a comparatively short distance from its prey. Those who are acquainted with the habits of the Goshawk know that on quitting the hand it flies directly at the quarry in a straight line, and does not mount to a height and "stoop," like a falcon or a tiercel. In Egypt, it would seem, a different practice obtains, and a different hawk is employed. The author of 'The Khedive's Egypt,' referring to this mode of capturing the Gazelle (p. 255), thus describes the sport: — "The Syrian Greyhound is a very beautiful specimen of the race ; smaller, and with less length of limb than the English Greyhound, and consequently with a shorter stride, the rapidity of his movements and the toughness and tenacity of his muscles, render him no unworthy scion of the stock to which his British cousin belongs. Moreover, his long, feathery, tufted tail seems to act as a rudder to him, when in full flight across those breezy plains — an advantage which marks the difference between the Syrian and other greyhounds, to whom, in other respects, he bears the closest affinity. In the eyes and faces of the choicest specimens of these dogs there shines an expression of winning and almost human intelligence ; yet, once launched in pursuit of game, they are as bloodthirsty as the sleuth-hound. The dog in Egypt, as throughout the East, with this exception, is a homeless and houseless vagabond, and semi-savage, prowling in packs, acting as scavenger only, and never domesticated, because considered 'unclean,' by Mussulman law and custom. The Prince Halim had the courage to brave this prejudice, and kept his greyhounds for the chase. But he also kept another and more curious class of creatures for the hunting of the Gazelle, probably the fastest in its movements of any wingless animal, viz., his