402 FALCONIDJS. 



one of the numerous instances in which Northern Indian birds 

 are much larger than their South Indian, Ceylonese, and Malay 

 representatives ; and, as Mr. Gurney has shown, both forms vary 

 in size and pass into each other. 



Distribution. The great forests and hilly tracts of India, Ceylon, 

 and Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Cambodia, Sumatra, Java, 

 Borneo, the Philippines, Formosa, and probably Southern China 

 and Siam. In India generally this is a rare bird. It has been 

 recorded from the Himalayas as far west as Kumaun, and Butler 

 believed he saw an individual at Mount Abu. 



Habits, $c. A forest bird, living chiefly in high trees, and feeding 

 on small birds and lizards. It has a shrill whistling call. The 

 nest has been found on a high tree in Sikhim on May 2nd and in 

 Travancore in April, and contained in one case two eggs, in the 

 other two young birds. The eggs were pale greenish white and 

 measured 2 by 1*4 inches. 



Genus ACCIPITER, Brisson, 1760. 



This genus, to which the true Sparrow-Hawks belong, is separated 

 from Astur on account of the much greater length and slenderness 

 of the tarsi and toes. The middle toe is especially long, projecting 

 far beyond the others. The bill from the gape is about one-third the 

 length of the tarsus and about one-half the middle toe with the claw. 



The genus Accipiter is almost cosmopolitan and comprises about 

 25 species, of which two are Indian. 



Key to the Species. 



a. No gular stripe ; 5 or 6 dark bars, one terminal, 



on 4th quill in adults A. nisus, p. 402. 



b. Generally a dark gular stripe; 7 or 8 dark bars 



on 4th quill in adults A. virgatus, p. 404. 



1247. Accipiter nisus. The Sparrow-Hawk. 



Falco nisus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 130 (1766). 



Falco nisosimilis, Tickett, J. A. S. B. ii, p. 571 (1833). 



Accipiter subtypicus, Hodgs. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844), descr. 



nulla. 

 Accipiter nisus, Blyth, Cat. p. 21 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 35 ; Jerdon, 



B. I i, p. 51 ; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 243 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 124 ; 



id. N. 8f E. p. 25 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 132 ; Hume, S. F. iv, 



p. 280; xi, p. 7 ; id. Cat. no. 24; Hume & Dav. S. F. vi, p. 10; 



Oates, B. B. ii, p. 181 ; id. in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 122 ; 



Barnes, Birds Bom, p. 24. 

 Accipiter melanoschistus, Hume, Ibis, 1869, p. 356 ; id. Rough Notes, 



p. 128 ; Blanf. S. F. v, p. 482 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 333 ; id. Cat. 



no. 24 bis ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 41. 



The European Sparrow-Hawk, Jerdon ; Basha $ , Bashin * $ , H. ; 

 Warnapa dega, Tel. 



* As noticed by Blyth, J. A. S. B. xix, p. 331, Basha is a masculine noun and, 

 it may be added, Bashin is feminine. It is not probable that native falconers 

 mistake the sex of Hawks, as they evidently know those of Falcons. 



