Page 128 - Arabian Studies (II)

120 Arabian Studies 11
Brief mention must be made of the lure*. In the event of the hawk
missing a kill, it will answer the falconer’s call and return to the
glove* for the meal it has just missed in flight. To draw the hawk’s
attention over long distances — this may be a mile or more — the lure
will be used instead of the glove, as a signal for the bird’s recall. The
lure may be a bundle of feathers — in the Gulf four houbara
wings — or a dead bird. At intervals through the training, the falconer
will have offered the hawk its meals on the lure in place of the fist,
and gone through the same calling off exercises. The lure swung on a
short line will catch the hawk’s attention more quickly and it will
return as though to the glove.
To exercise the hawk it may be called to the lure over long
distances, each time for a reward. Further, by jerking the lure out of
the hawk’s line of flight, the falconer can force the hawk to stoop
hard at it to be sure of catching it. However, it is considered that to
make a hawk stoop more than once in each flight spoils it. This
practice of stooping the hawk to the lure is purely for exercise and in
no way trains it in the techniques of flying at quarry. Nor is it
uniformly accepted as a part of preparing the hawk for the field. The
B. Sakhr, for instance, after familiarising the hawk with the lure and
establishing a conditioned reflex to its being swung, never give the
hawk food on it. Instead they use it as a signal and hold out the fist
to the returning hawk when it is 20 or 30 yards away. On the other
hand, stooping to the lure is common practice among falconers in the
Gulf states.

THE SALUKI*
The record must first be set straight. The saluki (saluqi), the hound
used in the Peninsula, is not the greyhound, despite the reports to
the contrary of a number of travellers and others.19 It is a member
of the gazehound family which includes the greyhound and a number
: of other breeds, the Afghan, whippet, borzoi, deerhound and others,
all known in Britain, and all of which are so called because of their
usual practice of following their quarry by sight and not by scent. At
first glance, the greyhound may look much like the saluki, especially
the smooth variety (see Plate 7), though there are obvious physical
differences on closer inspection. The saluki’s ears are long and
pendulous,20 while those of the greyhound are short and pricked.
The greyhound is wider in the body and more heavily built. But
; there is one other difference, one of vital importance for the hunt.
While the greyhound is a sprinter and is capable of high speeds over a
short distance, the saluki, whose maximum speed is undoubtedly
I! less, is possessed of great stamina.21

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