ASTURA CCIPITER 53 1 



747. LEVANT SPARROW-HAWK. 

 ASTUR BREVIPES. 



Astur brevipes, Severtz. Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Mosc. xxxiii. p. 234, tab. i, 

 ii. iii. (1850) ; (Dresser), v. p. 633, pis. 359, 360 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. i. p. Ill ; (Seidensacher), Ver. Zool. Bot. Gesell. 1864, 

 taf. i. (egg) ; A. gurneyi (Bree.), B. of Ear. iv. p. 185 (1863). 



Basha, Pers. 



$ ad. (Macedonia). Differs from A. Radius in being larger, in having 

 the under parts much more broadly and boldly barred, and as a rule with 

 darker brown and not rufous bars. Culmen 0'85, wing 8'9, tail 7'0, tarsus 

 2-15 inch. The female is not much larger than the male, whereas in A. 

 badius the difference in size between the sexes is considerable. 



Hob. South-eastern Europe ; Greece ; Southern Russia ; 

 Palestine ; Asia Minor ; Transcaspia ; Persia. 



This, the western representative of A. badius, differs but 

 little from that bird in its habits and nidification. It frequents 

 groves, gardens, and woods, and feeds on small mammals, birds, 

 and large insects. Its nest resembles that of the Sparrow 

 Hawk and is placed in a tree often tolerably high above the 

 ground, and in May it lays 4, sometimes only 3, eggs which 

 are greenish white when fresh, but soon fade. In size they 

 average 1'57 by 1*25. 



ACCIPITER, Briss., 1760. 



748. SPARROW-HAWK. 



ACCIPITER NISUS. 



Accipiter nisus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 130 (1766) ; (Naum.), u 

 p. 258, taf. 19, 20 ; Hewitson, i. p. 35, pi. xii ; Gould, B. of Gt. 

 Brit. i. pi. 11 ; Newton, i. p. 88 ; Dresser, v. p. 599, pis. 355 

 356, 357, 358 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. p. 132 ; Blanf. F 

 Brit. Ind. (Birds, iii. p. 402 ; Saunders, p. [333 ; Lilford, i, 

 p. 66, pis. 30, 31, 32, 33 ; A. fringillarius (Savigny), Desc. de 

 l'%ypt. Ois. p. 270 (1808); Gould, B. of E. i. pi. 18 ; A. 

 pallens, Stejn. Proc. U. S. Mus. xvi. p. 625 (1893) ; A, granti, 

 Sharpe, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. v. p. 483 (1890). 



L. Epervier, French ; Gravido, Portug. ; Gavilan, Span. ; 

 Sparviere, Ital. ; Sperler, German ; Sperwer, Dutch ; Spurvehceg, 

 Dan. and Norweg. ; Sparfhok, Swed. ; Varpuishaukka, Nuoli- 



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