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keep. And with all its boasted speed, is but second to the 
Besra for every kind of hard field or wood work. What the 
Besra would do at the first throw, the other could not do till 
the quarry was exhausted. To hunt with the Basha, requires a 
deal of tact, you must not throw it whilst the wind is high, you 
must keep well within the proximity of woods and trees, and 
not baulk it with birds larger than it can afford to strike and 
clutch.” 
One thing is to be said, native faleconers generally over-do 
the training of this bird, and make it too delicate—probably if 
more hardily reared and trained, it would do better, and turn 
out as tough and useful in its way as its larger relative, the 
Goshawk. Descriptions of the Huropean Sparrow Hawk vary 
a good deal. It is very essential to have as minute a record as 
possible of the plumage &c., of these various <Accipiters and I 
shall quote one or two descriptions of this present species from 
English works, the more so that this will help to show the dis- 
tinctness of the species I shall next have to deal with. 
Mr. Yarrell says, “The adult male measures about twelve 
inches in length; the beak blue, lightest at the base; the cere 
greenish yellow, the irides yellow; the top of the head, nape of 
the neck, back, wings, and wing coverts, rich dark brown, in 
very old males with a tinge of bluish grey ; feathers of the tail 
greyish brown, with three conspicuous transverse bands of dark 
brown ; the chin, cheeks, throat, breast, belly, thighs, and under 
tail coverts, rufous with numerous transverse bars of darker rufous 
brown, legs and toes, long, slender, and yellow; the claws curved, 
sharp and black. 
«The female is generally three inches longer than the male ; 
the beak, bluish horn colour ; cere yellowish, the irides yellow ; 
the top of the head, upper part of the neck, back, wing, and 
tail coverts, brown, the base of many of the feathers white, 
which extending beyond the edge of the feather immediately 
above it, causes a white spot or mark ; primaries and tail fea- 
thers light brown, barred transversely with darker brown ; 
under surface of the neck, body, wing coverts, and thighs, 
greyish white, barred transversely with brown; under surface 
of the wing and tail feathers of the same colour, but the hght 
and dark bars much broader ; the first six wing primaries emar- 
ginated ; the fourth and fifth quill feathers equal, and the long- 
est, the first quill feather the shortest ; the legs and toes yellow ; 
the claws long, curved, sharp, and black. 
«The young male Sparrow Hawk resembles the female ; but 
the brown feathers of the back and the wing coverts are edged 
