126 FALCONID^. 



29. Astur approximans *. 



Falco raiiatus, Temm. PL Col. i. pi. 123 (1823, nee Lath.). 



Astur radiatus, Vif/ora ^- Ilorsf. Tr. Linn. Sue. xv. p. 181 (1827). 



Astur lasciatus, iicl. torn. cit. p. 181 (1827). 



Astur approximans, iid. torn. cit. p. 181 (1827) ; Gould, Syn. B. 



Austr. pt. 3 (1838) ; id B. Anstr. i. pi. 17 (1848) ; Stitrt, Exp. 



Cent): Austr. App. p. 15 (1819) ; Peh. Sitz. Akad. Wien, Ixi. p. 62 



(1861) ; Gould, Handh. B. Azistr. i. p. 41 (1865). 

 Accipiter approximans, .Strickl. Ann. N. If. xi. p. 335 (1843) ; Grai/, 



Gen. B. i. p. 29 (1849) ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 33 (1850) ; Striekl. Orn. 



Syn. p. Ill (1855) ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 34 (1869). 

 Urospiza approximans, Bp. Rev. et May. de Zool. 1854, p. 538. 

 Nisus approximans, ScJd. Mus. P.-B. Astures, p. 42 (1862) ; id. Mevue 



Accipitr. p. 79 (1873). 



Tonne/. Above brown, the feathers edged with pale n;fous ; fore- 

 head, eyebrow, and sides of face white, streaked with dark browu ; 

 the nape much mixed with white ; quills and tail brown, with 

 whitish tips, barred with numerous narrow bands of darker brown, 

 thirteen or fourteen in number on the latter, the under sui'face of 

 both glossy white ; the bars more indistinct near the base, which is 

 shaded with pale rufous ; under surface of body white, with an ill- 

 defined streak of dark brown down the throat ; the chest streaked 

 with broad oval drops of pale rufous ; the breast and flanks broadly 

 barred with the same colour, especially on the thighs and under 

 tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts buffy white, with pale rufous 

 cross bars ; cere, gape, and base of bill bluish lead-colour, the latter 

 blackish at tip ; feet gamboge-yellow ; iris beautiful yellow. 



Adult female. Above duU ashy brown ; the hinder part of the 

 neck didl vinous red ; quiUs uniform brown above, with a slight 

 shade of ashy on the secondaries ; the inner webs slightly paler, 

 with obsolete remains of darker brown bars ; the under surface of 

 the quills ashy grey, with a pale rufous shade near the base, in- 

 clining to dark brown towards the tips, with notches of the same 

 colour ; tail ashy brown above, glistening white beneath, with in- 

 distinct remains of darker bars, about fourteen in number, on the 

 inner webs ; sides of face dark ashy brown, like the head ; throat 

 dull white, mottled with transverse remains of ashy bars ; remainder 

 of under surface dull rufous, barred with numerous narrow lines 

 of whitish, each bar having a conterminous bar of ashy above and 

 below ; under wing-coverts dull rufous, more broadly barred with 

 fulvous ; cere greenish yellow ; bill dusky, olive-green at base, 

 as also the gape ; feet yellow, claws black ; iris bright yellowish 

 orange. Total length 2U inches, culmen 1-3, wing 12-25, tail 10, 

 tarsus 3-2. 



* Under the title of A. approximans Mr. E. P. Ramsay makes remarks on a 

 Goshawk from Port Denison, which lie was inclined to separate from the present 

 species. I am not aware that any further description has been published {cf. 

 Ibis, 1866, p. 326). 



