228 A Description of the Birds 



year which he describes and represents ; and, therefore, forces 

 me to dissent from an authority I so much admire. 



ACCIPITEB TACHIRO. 



Speckled Sparrowhawk, Latham. Le Tachiro, Le Vaillant 

 Ois d'Afrique, pi. 29. 



A. supra brunneus ; infra albus faciis nigro-brunneis trans- 

 versis variegatus. Remiges brunnece, pogoniis internis nigro 

 fasciatis et versus bases variegatis ; rectrices brunnece faciis 

 latis nigris notatce ; tarsi et digiti flavce. 



Male. Bill bluish black, with a small yellowish spot on the 

 edge of the tooth of upper mandible, and another opposite it on 

 base of lower ; cere yellow ; front, crown, back of neck, in- 

 ter scapulars, back, upper tail coverts, and shoulders dull 

 brown ; the feathers of nape all white towards quills, thereby 

 giving rise, in certain position, to a mottled appearance. Chin 

 and throat pure white ; sides of neck white, with narrow 

 transverse brown bands ; breast and belly white, banded trans- 

 versely with brown, the bands few towards the middle, but 

 numerous on the sides ; under tail coverts white, irregularly 

 crossed by a few narrow brownish lines ; thighs tawny white, 

 with broadish transverse brown bands. Primary wing feathers 

 brown, banded on the inner vanes by black towards their 

 tips, and by black and nearly clear white towards quills ; 

 secondaries the same as primaries, with the exception of the 

 white being more abundant on the inner vanes. Tail slightly 

 rounded, of a light brown color, and crossed by four broad 

 blackish bands*, and the tips of all the feathers more or less 

 white ; legs and toes yellow ; claws black. Length from bill 

 to base of tail seven inches ; length of tail seven and a half 

 inches. 



Female. Length from bill to base of tail nine inches ; 

 length of latter eight inches ; body considerably larger than 

 in the male, and the colors similarly disposed as in it, only 

 they are of a duller tint. 



Young. Above brown, but of a lighter tint than in mature 

 specimens, and the feathers of the back and shoulders edged 

 and tipt with clear rufous ; chin and throat tawny white, the 

 former with a longitudinal black streak towards its centre ; 

 breast and belly tawny white or pure tawny, and each feather 

 marked in the middle by a large oval or oblong blackish spot ; 

 under tail coverts tawny white, variegated by cordiform or 



* It will often be observed that in the same bird the number of bands are 

 not alike in all the tail feathers, particularly about the moulting season, 

 which will generally be found to arise from old and new ones existing in the 

 same specimen. 



[30] 



