to the courtesy of an enthusiastic falconer in India, Lieutenant D. C. Phillott, intelligence officer to the British forces at Dera Ismail Khan, Punjab.

Nasir is one of the names of the present Shah, and the work is styled his out of compliment. The author is Mirzá Taimúr, Governor of Fárs, son of Husain Ali Mirzá, and grandson of Fateh Ali Shah Kájár. Fateh Ali Shah was the great-grandfather of the present Shah. The place of publication is not mentioned, the book is lithographed, and is what is known in India as a "bazar edition.”

For further details concerning the practice of Falconry in Persia than is afforded by the treatises above named the reader may be referred to Jaubert, who visited the summer quarters of the Persian Court near the ruins of Sultanieh on the great plain of Irán, and saw falcons, from the southern shores of the Caspian and Aral, flown at bustards, hares, gazelle, and wild-duck ("Voyage en Arménie et en Perse, p. 353); Morier, who witnessed hawking in the plain of Bushire ("Journey through Persia and Armenia," 4to, London, 1812), and Sir John Malcolm, who gives an account of gazelle-hawking, and bustardhawking on the sandy plains of Persia about 20 English miles from Abubekir, and hare-hawking in the environs of Shiráz ("History of Persia," 2 vols. 4to, London, 1815; and "Sketches of Persia, 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1828). See also Dr. John Harris, "Voyages and Travels," folio, London, 1764, vol. ii. p. 887; Ranking, "Historical Researches on the Wars and Sports of the Mongols," 4to, London, 1826, pp. 92-99; De Filippi, "Note di un Viaggio in Persia nel 1862," 8vo, Milan, 1865; and Colonel Yule's edition of "Marco Polo's Travels," 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1875.

The latest information on the subject of Falconry in Persia is that afforded by Major Oliver St. John in the "Account of the Persian Boundary Commission," 1870-72, edited by Sir Frederic Goldsmid, C.B., K.C.S.I., 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1876, vol. ii. pp. 102-111.

NOTE. No treatises on Falconry in Hindustani have come to light, although copies of several Persian MSS. on the subject

are well known to falconers in India. As to the origin of Falconry in India, where it is believed to have been introduced by the conquering Mahommedans in the tenth century, see Schlegel, op. cit. (No. 194), pp. 59 and 64; and for details of the sport as practised in that country see "An Account of the Hunting Excursions of Asoph ul Doulah, Visier of the Mogul Empire and Nabob of Oude, by William Blane, who attended in these Excursions in the years 1785 and 1786," printed in Blane's Cynegetica, or Essays on Sporting, 8vo, London (Stockdale), 1788, pp. 183-201; Johnson, "Sketches of Indian Field Sports," 8vo, London, 1822, pp. 46, 47 (the pages relating to Hawking have been extracted by Belany, No. 64, pp. 51–56); Corvin Wierbitski (No. 115), Burton (No. 66), and Delmé Radcliffe (No. 72). The last-named writer gives a complete list of the hawks now in use in India, with their native names.

Reference should also be made to the valuable remarks of Mr. R. Thompson on hawking in India, printed in Hume's "Rough Notes on Indian Oology and Ornithology," 8vo, Calcutta, 1869, pp. 57, 69, 74-75, 86, 93, 114-115, and 125.

Arabic.

As frequent allusion is made in the Persian and Arabic titles to "the year of the Hegirà," indicated by the letters A.H., it may be well to give here a brief explanation of a term which applies to a celebrated epoch used by the Arabs and Mahometans for the computation of time.

The word is Arabic, written Hejerà, and signifying "flight," the Arabic letters of which it is composed being H, j, r, à, or àh, and the supplied vowels are pronounced short.

The event which gave rise to this epoch was Mahomet's flight from Mecca to Medina, when the rulers of Mecca, fearing he might raise a sedition, expelled him from that city in the year of our Lord

622.

The first year of the Hegirà, therefore, corresponds with A.D. 622. To save the trouble of computation, the reader may be referred to Marsden's very useful "Table," printed in the Philosophical Trans

actions, vol. lxxviii., which exhibits at a glance the correspondence of the years of the Hegirà with those of the Christian era, and the month and day of their respective commencement.

It should be observed that the Orientals do not agree with us as to the time of the Hegirà. Among the Mahometans, Amasi assigns it to A.D. 630, and according to the Greek computation among the Christians, Said Ibn Batrick refers it to A.D. 614. In the present bibliography the dates adopted are those given in Marsden's "Table" above mentioned.

348. KITAB i Khágán Azam veh al-Malek Hind li Izzud-Din Muhammed Pelásgúní. A.H. 577.

THE BOOK of the Great Khágán, and King of India, by Izzud-Din Muhammed Pelásgúní. A.H. 577, ¿.e., A.D. 1181.

This is the first (No. 50) of a dozen Arabic treatises (Nos. 50-61) given by Hammer Purgstall (p. xxxii.) in native characters, and here transliterated, through the kindness of Mr. Sidney A. J. Churchill.

349. KITAB Nushírván i 'Adil li Imád ud Din Isfahani. A.H. 590.

THE BOOK of Nushírván the Wise, by Imád ud Din Isfahání—¿.e., of Isfahan. A.H. 590, i.e., A.D. 1193.

No. 51 of Hammer Purgstall.

350. KITAB Badr ud Din Muhammed ul Balkhi. A.H. 577.

THE BOOK of Badr ud Din Muhammed the Balkhi. A.H. 577, i.e., A.D. 1181.

No. 52 of Hammer Purgstall.

351. AL KANUN UL-Vazeh.

THE PERFECT CANON.

No. 53 of Hamner Purgstall.