The Memoirs of Bābur 932.9
The Bābur-nāma in English (A. S. Beveridge) 932.9
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932.9.1
The hog-deer (_kotah-pāīcha_) is another.[1754] It may be of the size of the white deer (_āq kiyīk_). It has short legs, hence its name, little-legged. Its horns are like a _būghū_'s but smaller; like the _būghū_ it casts them every year. Being rather a poor runner, it does not leave the jungle.
932.9.2
Another is a deer (_kiyīk_) after the fashion of the male deer (_aīrkākī hūna_) of the _jīrān_.[1755] Its back is black, its belly white, its horns longer than the _hūna's_, but more crooked. A Hindūstānī [Sidenote: Fol. 276b.] calls it _kalahara_,[1756] a word which may have been originally _kālā-haran_, black-buck, and which has been softened in pronunciation to _kalahara_. The doe is light-coloured. By means of this _kalahara_ people catch deer; they fasten a noose (_ḥalqa_) on its horns, hang a stone as large as a ball[1757] on one of its feet, so as to keep it from getting far away after it has brought about the capture of a deer, and set it opposite wild deer when these are seen. As these (_kalahara_) deer are singularly combative, advance to fight is made at once. The two deer strike with their horns and push one another backwards and forwards, during which the wild one's horns become entangled in the net that is fast to the tame one's. If the wild one would run away, the tame one does not go; it is impeded also by the stone on its foot. People take many deer in this way; after capture they tame them and use them in their turn to take others;[1758] they also set them to fight at home; the deer fight very well. There is a smaller deer (_kiyīk_) on the Hindūstān hill-skirts, as large may-be as the one year's lamb of the _arqārghalcha_ (_Ovis poli_).
932.9.3
The _gīnī-cow_[1759] is another, a very small one, perhaps as large as the _qūchqār_ (ram) of those countries (Tramontana). Its flesh is very tender and savoury. The monkey (_maimūn_) is another—a Hindūstānī calls it _bandar_. Of this too there are many kinds, one being what people [Sidenote: Fol. 277.] take to those countries. The jugglers (_lūlī_) teach them tricks. This kind is in the mountains of Nūr-dara, in the skirt-hills of Safīd-koh neighbouring on Khaibar, and from there downwards all through Hindūstān. It is not found higher up. Its hair is yellow, its face white, its tail not very long.—Another kind, not found in Bajaur, Sawād and those parts, is much larger than the one taken to those countries (Tramontana). Its tail is very long, its hair whitish, its face quite black. It is in the mountains and jungles of Hindūstān.[1760]—Yet another kind is distinguished (_būlā dūr_), quite black in hair, face and limbs.[1761] The _nawal_ (_nūl_)[1762] is another. It may be somewhat smaller than the _kīsh_. It climbs trees. Some call it the _mūsh-i-khūrma_ (palm-rat). It is thought lucky. A mouse (T. _sīchqān_) people call _galāhrī_ (squirrel) is another. It is just always in trees, running up and down with amazing alertness and speed.[1763] (_j. Fauna of Hindūstān:—Birds._)[1764] The peacock (Ar. _ṯāūs_) is one. It is a beautifully coloured and splendid animal. Its form (_andām_) is not equal to its colouring and beauty.
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Its body may be as large as the crane's (_tūrna_) but it is not so tall. On the head of both cock and hen are 20 to 30 feathers rising some 2 or 3 inches high. The hen has neither colour nor beauty. The head of the cock has an iridescent collar (_ṯauq sūsanī_); its neck is of a beautiful blue; [Sidenote: Fol. 277b.] below the neck, its back is painted in yellow, parrot-green, blue and violet colours. The flowers[1765] on its back are much the smaller; below the back as far as the tail-tips are [larger] flowers painted in the same colours. The tail of some peacocks grows to the length of a man's extended arms.[1766] It has a small tail under its flowered feathers, like the tail of other birds; this ordinary tail and its primaries[1767] are red. It is in Bajaur and Sawād and below them; it is not in Kunur [Kūnūr] and the Lamghānāt or any place above them. Its flight is feebler than the pheasant's (_qīrghāwal_); it cannot do more than make one or two short flights.[1768] On account of its feeble flight, it frequents the hills or jungles, which is curious, since jackals abound in the jungles it frequents. What damage might these jackals not do to birds that trail from jungle to jungle, tails as long as a man's stretch (_qūlāch_)! Hindūstānīs call the peacock _mor_. Its flesh is lawful food, according to the doctrine of Imām Abū Ḥanīfa; it is like that of the partridge and not unsavoury, but is eaten with instinctive aversion, in the way camel-flesh is. The parrot (H.
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_ṯūṯī_) is another. This also is in Bajaur and countries lower down. It comes into Nīngnahār and the Lamghānāt in the heats when mulberries ripen; it is not there at other times. It is of many, many kinds. One sort is that which people carry into those (Tramontane) countries. They [Sidenote: Fol. 278.] make it speak words.—Another sort is smaller; this also they make speak words. They call it the jungle-parrot. It is numerous in Bajaur, Sawād and that neighbourhood, so much so that 5 or 6000 fly in one flock (_khail_). Between it and the one first-named the difference is in bulk; in colouring they are just one and the same.—Another sort is still smaller than the jungle-parrot. Its head is quite red, the top of its wings (_i.e._ the primaries) is red also; the tip of its tail for two hands'-thickness is lustrous.[1769] The head of some parrots of this kind is iridescent (_sūsanī_). It does not become a talker. People call it the Kashmīr parrot.—Another sort is rather smaller than the jungle-parrot; its beak is black; round its neck is a wide black collar; its primaries are red. It is an excellent learner of words.—We used to think that whatever a parrot or a _shārak_ (_mīna_) might say of words people had taught it, it could not speak of any matter out of its own head. At this juncture[1770] one of my immediate servants Abū'l-qāsim _Jalāīr_, reported a singular thing to me. A parrot of this sort whose cage must have been covered up, said, "Uncover my face;
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I am stifling." And another time when palkī bearers sat down to take breath, this parrot, presumably on hearing wayfarers pass by, said, "Men are going past, are you not going on?" Let credit rest with the narrator,[1771] but never-the-less, so long as a person has not heard with his own ears, he may not believe!—Another kind is of a beautiful [Sidenote: Fol. 278b.] full red; it has other colours also, but, as nothing is distinctly remembered about them, no description is made. It is a very beautiful bird, both in colour and form. People are understood to make this also speak words.[1772] Its defect is a most unpleasant, sharp voice, like the drawing of broken china on a copper plate.[1773]
932.9.7
The (P.) _shārak_[1774] is another. It is numerous in the Lamghānāt and abounds lower down, all over Hindūstān. Like the parrot, it is of many kinds.—The kind that is numerous in the Lamghānāt has a black head; its primaries (_qānāt_) are spotted, its body rather larger and thicker[1775] than that of the (T.) _chūghūr-chūq_.[1776] People teach it to speak words.—Another kind they call _p:ndāwalī_[1777]; they bring it from Bengal; it is black all over and of much greater bulk than the _shārak_ (here, house-_mīna_). Its bill and foot are yellow and on each ear are yellow wattles which hang down and have a bad appearance.[1778] It learns to speak well and clearly.—Another kind of _shārak_ is slenderer than the last and is red round the eyes. It does not learn to speak. People call it the wood-_shārak_.[1779] Again, at the time when (934 AH.) I had made a bridge over Gang (Ganges), crossed it, and put my adversaries to flight, a kind of _shārak_ was seen, in the neighbourhood of Laknau and Aūd (Oude), for the first time, which had a white breast, piebald head, and black back. This kind does not learn to speak.[1780]
932.9.8
The _lūja_[1781] is another. This bird they call (Ar.) _bū-qalamūn_ (chameleon) because, between head and tail, it has five or six changing colours, resplendent (_barrāq_) like a pigeon's throat. [Sidenote: Fol. 279.] It is about as large as the _kabg-i-darī_[1782] and seems to be the _kabg-i-darī_ of Hindūstān. As the _kabg-i-darī_ moves (_yūrūr_) on the heads (_kulah_) of mountains, so does this. It is in the Nijr-aū mountains of the countries of Kābul, and in the mountains lower down but it is not found higher up. People tell this wonderful thing about it:—When the birds, at the onset of winter, descend to the hill-skirts, if they come over a vineyard, they can fly no further and are taken. God knows the truth! The flesh of this bird is very savoury.