ACCIPITRIN.E. 51 



24. Accipiter Nisus, Lm. 



Falco, apud Linnj^us — Blyth Cat. 94 — Horsf., Cat. 43., P. 

 E. 467, 412— Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 18— A. fringillarlus, 

 Ray — Jerdon, Suppl. Cat. 33 — A. Dussumlerli, apud Jerdon, 

 Cat. 33 — A nisosimilis, TiCKELL — A. subtypicus, HoDGS. — Basha 

 (the female) — Bashin (the male), Hind. — Warnapa dega, Tel. — 

 Tanki, Lepch. — Uchum, Bhotia. 



The European Sparrow-Hawk. 



Descr. — Young bird yellowish brown above, the feathers edged 

 with ochrey, not much so in female ; the quills banded on their 

 inner webs, and the tail with four bands ; beneath ochrey white, 

 with brown longitudinal streaks on the chin and throat, changing 

 to bars on the breast, lower abdomen, and thigh coverts. 



The adult is blackish or brownish grey above, white on the eye- 

 brow and nape ; the quills brown-banded, and the tail more ashy 

 and lighter, with four bands, the last widest and with a white tip, 

 the others somewhat indistinct in very old birds ; the throat and 

 chin pale ochrey white, with brown stripes ; the rest of the plu- 

 mage beneath white, the feathers with brown shafts, and densely 

 banded with reddish ochrey, in some specimens quite rusty : under 

 tail coverts pure white. 



The adult female differs somewhat from the male in being paler 

 and browner above, and in the lower parts being whiter, with the 

 bars and markings more narrow. 



Iris golden yellow, legs pale yellow. 



Length of a male 12 to 13 inches ; wing 8^ ; tail 6 ; tars. 2^. A 

 female measures 15 to 16 inches ; ext. 25 ; wing 9i ; tail 1^ ; tarsus 

 2^; mid toe If. 



The sparrow-hawk of England is a cold weather visitant to India, 

 coming in very regularly about the beginning of October, and leav- 

 ing again about the end of February or March according to the 

 locality. It is found throughout India in suitable places, chiefly 

 in hilly and jungly districts, but not in dense forests in general. 

 I have got it on the Neilgherries, abundant on the Eastern 

 Ghauts, where many are caught every year, and in all the hilly 



