ACCIPITRIN &. 23: 
p. 3871; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 72; 
Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 56; 
Hume’s Scrap Book, p. 117. 
THE SHIKRA, Hin. 
&. Length, 12 to 12:5; expanse, 23; wing, 68 to 7°5; tail, 55 
to 59; bill from gape, 0°78; weight, 5 to 6 ozs. 
@. Length, 14 to 15; wing, 8°25; tail, 7; tarsus, 19; weight, 
84 to 94 ozs. 
Bill bluish, dusky at tip; irides pale yellow; cere yellow; 
legs and feet yellow. 
The young bird is dark reddish, or dusky-brown above; the 
feathers edged with rufous, most broadly so in the male; back of 
the head and nape a good deal variegated with white ; tail light 
ashy -brown, with six dark bands, beneath white, with a central 
dark chin line; the breast and abdomen with large oval brown 
spots, longer on the breast, rounded on the abdomen; the thigh- 
coverts rufescent-white, with smaller spots; under tail-coverts 
with a few faint stripes. The male has usually fewer spots than 
the female. 
The adult bird is pale ashy-grey above, darkest on the head, 
and with a dusky-reddish nape, only conspicuous when the head 
is bent forwards; tail with the two centre feathers and the two 
outer ones not barred, the others only barred on their inner webs ; 
quills blackish-grey, with some dark narrow bands on the inner 
webs ; beneath white, with a faint chin-stripe, not always present ; 
breast and upper abdomen closely barred with pale rufescent, 
fawn-colored, transverse marks; the lower abdomen, thigh- 
coverts, and under tail-coverts pure white; irides deep orange 
color; cere bright yellow; feet dark buff-yellow. 
As this plumage is not assumed before the fourth or fifth year, 
intermediate stages are common, and consist in the upper 
plumage becoming more uniform ; in the bars of the tail becom- 
ing gradually indistinct ; and in the longitudinal drops beneath 
changing to bars, gradually disappearing in some parts. 
The Shikra is common throughout the region, frequenting 
gardens, cultivated ground, and open jungle. It is a permanent 
resident, breeding during April and May. It takes a very long 
time to make its nest, which is generally placed in a fork near 
the top of a tree; it is composed of twigs and is not very com- 
pact, scarcely so large as that of the Turumti. The eggs, three 
or four in number, are oval in shape and of a pale delicate bluish- 
white color, indistinctly spotted with very faint grey; the shell 
is smooth and glossless. They average from 1:56 inches in length 
to 1:21 in breadth. 
Genus, Accipiter, Briss. 
Bill very short, curving from the base, compressed, with a very 
prominent festoon in the middle of the edge of the upper man- 
dible ; nostrils oval, oblique ; wings rounded, the fourth and fifth 
