396 FALCONID^. 



Bill dusky horn-coloured, yellowish laterally at base of mandible; 

 toes and naked part of tarsus livid waxy, claws horny black 

 {Bhjth). ^ 



Length 28 inches?; tail 11; wing 20; tarsus 3-25; mid-toe 

 without claw 175 ; bill from gape 1-9. 



Distribution. A rare bird, of which a few specimens have been 

 obtained at high elevations in Sikhim, Nepal, and Kiilu. It has 

 also occurred near Shanghai in China. Nothing is known of its 

 habits. 



Genus ASTUR, Lacepede, 1801. 



This and the next two genera contain the typical Hawks, which 

 are distinguished from Palcons, Eagles, Buzzards, Harriers, and 

 Kites by having proportionally shorter and more rounded wings, 

 and from all except the Harriers by having the tibia and tarsus 

 nearly equal in length. 



The true Hawks are chiefly found in forest or well-wooded tracts, 

 and they always breed on trees. The sexes are very different in 

 size. " Their flight is often near the ground and is performed by 

 a few rapid strokes of the wings, alternating with a saihug with 

 outspread wings. They are more arboreal in their habits than the 

 Falcons, hunting in woods or on the skirts of woods, or along 

 avenues and hedgerows, and they generally seize their prey by a 

 sudden pounce during their flight, not following the quarry to any 

 distance as the Falcons do." (Jerdon.) 



Although the group is here divided into three genera, the 

 generic distinctions are not very marked, and all the species are by 

 some naturalists referred to a single genus, whilst Kaup and 

 Gurney refer each of the six Indian kinds to a different generic 

 section. 



The genus Astur as here admitted has a short stout bill curving 

 sharply from the cere, with a large festoon ; the nostril is moderate 

 in size and oval. The wing is short and rounded, extending to 

 about the middle of the long tail. Usually the 4th quill is longest, 

 occasionally the 3rd or 5th, the three not differing greatly in length. 

 Tarsus long, stout, scutellate in front and behind, reticulate on the 

 sides, only the upper part covered with feathers ; toes and claws 

 moderate, the bill from the gape measuring ^ to f the length of 

 the tarsus and about | the length of the outer toe. The plumage 

 is grey or brown above, spotted beneath in the young, transversely 

 barred in adults. 



Besides the true Goshawks, the present genus contains a number 

 of smaller Hawks, two of which are Indian, the others being very 

 widely distributed. Of the Indian species A. badius has been dis- 

 tinguished as Scelospiza or Scdospizias, A. sohensis as Tachyspiza. 

 The generic name Micronisus employed by Jerdon really belongs 

 to an African group known as Melierax. 



