AQUILINE. 73 



Accipiter nisus, Lin,. Si/i<L Nat.i. p. 130; Pall. Zoo.jr. Eosso. As. 

 i. p. 370; Gray, Gen. B. i." p. 29; Jerd. B. Ind. i. p'. 51, No. 24; 

 Hume, Bough Notes, i. p. 124; Sharpe, Cat. Ace. Br. Mus."^. 132; 

 Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, Sec, 8md., p. 110. {Bnsha, the female; Baaldn, 

 the male. Hind.)' — The European Spar row-Hawk. 



Young, — Head, nape, neck behind, back, scapulars, and wing-coverts 

 dusky brown, darker on the upper back, the feathers margined with 

 rufous, the occiput and nape with white mottlings, caused by the 

 broad white bases of the feathers showing through. Lores and eye- 

 brow white ; chin and throat and sides of the neck white, the feathers 

 with mesial dark streaks. Ear-coverts the same. Rump and upper 

 tail-coverts like the back, .the feathers with dark shafts and tipped 

 rufous. Primaries and secondaries dusky brown, basally rufescent 

 white on their inner webs and barred with dark brown. The tips 

 of the secondaries rufous or rufescent white; inner web subterminally 

 of the tertiaries white, margined at the tips with pale rufous. Tail 

 ashy bi'own, above greyish white, on the under surface tipped whitish 

 and with fine dark brown bands ; breast, abdomen, Hanks, and 

 thigh-coverts barred with rufous brown and white. Under tail- 

 coverts white. Under wing-lining buff, with spots and transverse 

 dark brown bars. 



Adult Male. — Head, nape, hind neck, wing-coverts, back, and 

 scapulars, slaty, with a bluish tinge, the nape mottled white, and some 

 of the tertials basally white. Upper tail-coverts and scapulars with 

 indistinct dark shafts. Tail, like the back, tipped white, and with four 

 dark brown bands. Primaries dark brown, their inner webs rufescent 

 white, and crossed with darker brown, nearly black bars; secondaries 

 slaty, also rufescent white on their inner webs and barred across with 

 dark brown. Chin and throat white, witlia rufous tinge ; breast, flanks, 

 and abdornen barred with bright rufous and white. Thigh-coverts the 

 same. Under tail-coverts white. Under wing-coverts barred with 

 rufous and dark brown. Bill horny or dark horn-blue; cere, base of 

 lower mandible and legs, yellow ; iris orange. 



Length. — 13 inches, wing 8'15, tail 6'3, tarsus 2"3. Females larger 

 and of a duller tint; length, 15'5, wing 9"3 to 9'5, tail 7, tarsus 2*5. 



Hah. — The whole of Europe and ISorthern Asia, extending in winter 

 into Algeria, N. E. Africa, the Indian Peninsula, and China (Sharpe). 

 Occurs throughout Sind, Punjab, N. \'V. Provinces and Bengal ; also 

 throughout the Western Presidency and in Beloochistan, Persia and 

 Afghanistan. Affects gardens and cultivation. It is much used in 

 Sind for hawking, and is said to be easily tamed, and owing to its 

 courage, a better bird than the Shiki'a for the quarry. 



Sub-Family, AQUILINE,— Eagles. 



Bill strong, more or less lengthened, festooned, l)nt not toothed. 

 Tarsi long, reticulate behind. Wings moderate, 4th quill usually the 

 longest. 



10 z 



