ACCIPITRIN.E. 23 



p. 371 ; 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. 



<J . Length, 12 to 12'5 ; expanse, 23 ; wing, 6'8 to 7'5 ; tail, 5'5 

 to 5'9 ; bill from gape, 078 ; weight, 5 to 6 ozs. 



9 . Length, 14 to 15 ; wing, 8'25 ; tail, 7; tarsus, 1-9; weight, 

 8J to 9J ozs. 



Bill bluish, dusky at tip ; hides; 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 bee oming 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 



