The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur)

The nīla-gāū (blue-bull)1751 is another. It may stand as high as a horse but is somewhat lighter in build. The male is bluish-gray, hence, seemingly, people call it nīla-gāū. It has two rather small horns. On its throat is a tuft of hair, nine inches long; (in this) it resembles the yak.1752 Its hoof is cleft (aīrī) like the hoof of cattle. The doe is of the colour of the būghū-marāl1753; she, for her part, has no horns and is plumper than the male.

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.

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 HindūstānīFol. 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 ball1757 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.

The monkey (maimūn) is another—a Hindūstānī calls it bandar. Of this too there are many kinds, one being what people 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 peacock (Ar. t̤āūs) is one. It is a beautifully coloured and splendid animal. Its form (andām) is not equal to its colouring and beauty. 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 (t̤auq sūsanī); its neck is of a beautiful blue;Fol. 277b. below the neck, its back is painted in yellow, parrot-green, blue and violet colours. The flowers1765 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 primaries1767 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. t̤ūt̤ī) 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 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 juncture1770 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; 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 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

The (P.) shārak1774 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 thicker1775 than that of the (T.) chūghūr-chūq.1776 People teach it to speak words.—Another kind they call p:ndāwalī1777; 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

The lūja1781 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. Fol. 279.It is about as large as the kabg-i-darī1782 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.

The partridge (durrāj)1783 is another. This is not peculiar to Hindūstān but is also in the Garm-sīr countries1784; as however some kinds are only in Hindūstān, particulars of them are given here. The durrāj (Francolinus vulgaris) may be of the same bulk as the kīklīk1785; the cock’s back is the colour of the hen-pheasant (qīrghāwal-ning māda-sī); its throat and breast are black, with quite white spots.1786 A red line comes down on both sides of both eyes.1787 It is named from its cry1788 which is something like Shir dāram shakrak.1789 It pronounces shir short; dāram shakrak it says distinctly. Astarābād partridges are said to cry Bāt mīnī tūtīlār (Quick! they have caught me). The partridge of Arabia and those parts is understood to cry, Bi’l shakar tadawm al ni‘am (with sugar pleasure endures)! The hen-bird has the colour of the young pheasant. These birds are found below Nijr-aū.—Another kind is called kanjāl. Its bulk may be that of the one already described. Its voice is very like that of the kīklīk but much shriller. There is littleFol. 279b. difference in colour between the cock and hen. It is found in Parashāwar, Hashnagar and countries lower down, but not higher up.

The p(h)ūl-paikār1790 is another. Its size may be that of the kabg-i-darī; its shape is that of the house-cock, its colour that of the hen. From forehead (tūmāgh) to throat it is of a beautiful colour, quite red. It is in the Hindūstān mountains.

The quail (P. būdana) is another. It is not peculiar to Hindūstān but four or five kinds are so.—One is that which goes to our countries (Tramontana), larger and more spreading than the (Hindūstān) quail.1795—Another kind1796 is smaller than the one first named. Its primaries and tail are reddish. It flies in flocks like the chīr (Phasianus Wallichii).—Another kind is smaller than that which goes to our countries and is darker on throat Fol. 280.and breast.1797—Another kind goes in small numbers to Kābul; it is very small, perhaps a little larger than the yellow wag-tail (qārcha)1798; they call it qūrātū in Kābul.

The Indian bustard (P. kharchāl)1799 is another. It is about as large as the (T.) tūghdāq (Otis tarda, the great bustard), and seems to be the tūghdāq of Hindūstān.1800 Its flesh is delicious; of some birds the leg is good, of others, the wing; of the bustard all the meat is delicious and excellent.

Of the birds that frequent water and the banks of rivers, one is the dīng,1804 an animal of great bulk, each wing measuring a qūlāch (fathom). It has no plumage (tūqī) on head or neck; a thing like a bag hangs from its neck; its back is black; its breast is white. It goes sometimes to Kābul; one year people brought one they had caught. It became very tame; if meat were thrown to it, it never failed to catch it in its bill. Once it swallowed a six-nailed shoe, another time a whole fowl, wingsFol. 280b. and feathers, all right down.

The sāras (Grus antigone) is another. Turks in Hindūstān call it tīwa-tūrnā (camel-crane). It may be smaller than the dīng but its neck is rather longer. Its head is quite red.1805 People keep this bird at their houses; it becomes very tame.

The mānek1806 is another. In stature it approaches the sāras, but its bulk is less. It resembles the lag-lag (Ciconia alba, the white stork) but is much larger; its bill is larger and is black. Its head is iridescent, its neck white, its wings partly-coloured; the tips and border-feathers and under parts of the wings are white, their middle black.

Another Hindūstān bird resembles the crow (T. qārcha, C. splendens) and the magpie (Ar. ‘aqqa). In the Lamghānāt people call it the jungle-bird (P. murgh-i-jangal).1814 Its head and breast are black; its wings and tail reddish; its eye quite red. Having a feeble flight, it does not come out of the jungle, whence its name.

The great bat (P. shapara)1815 is another. People call it (Hindī) chumgādur. It is about as large as the owl (T. yāpālāq, Otus brachyotus), and has a head like a puppy’s. When it is thinking of lodging for the night on a tree, it takes hold of a branch, turns head-downwards, and so remains. It has much singularity.

The magpie (Ar. ‘aqqa) is another. People call it (H.?) matā (Dendrocitta rufa, the Indian tree-pie). It may be somewhat less than the ‘aqqa (Pica rustica), which moreover is pied black and white, while the matā is pied brown and black.1816