A CCIP1TERMELIERAX 533 



Besra $ , Dhoti $ , Hindu. ; Ukissa, Cing. ; Tsume, Jap. 



$ ad. (Japan). Upper parts dark slaty brown, the sides of the head 

 pale greyish brown washed with rufous ; tail and quills dark banded j 

 nape-feathers and scapulars white at the base ; throat white ; under parts 

 pale rusty red slightly barred with white, vent and under tail-coverts 

 white ; bill lead-grey, blackish at the tip ; cere pale lemon-yellow ; legs 

 and feet yellow ; iris bright yellow or orange. Culmen O72, wing 6*3, tail 

 5-3, tarsus 2'1 inch. Female larger (wing 7*8, tail 6'4) ; upper parts dark 

 brown tinged with grey, the head blackish brown ; tail pale ashy brown 

 with broad blackish bands ; under parts white broadly barred with rufous 

 brown ; throat white with a broad dark median stripe. 



Hob. The Himalayas and the forests of India and Ceylon, 

 north to the southern Baikal district and Dauria, east to China 

 and Japan, south to the Indo-Malayan islands. 



Inhabits the forests, and is a bold courageous bird, being 

 therefore held in high esteem by Indian falconers. It feeds on 

 small birds, and also to some extent on lizards and insects. Its 

 nest is placed in a tree and is constructed of sticks without any 

 lining, and the eggs, 4 in number, are laid in May, and are white 

 spotted and blotched with dark umber-brown and measure about 

 1-54 by 119. 



MELIERAX, Gray, 1840. 



750. MANY-BANDED HAWK. 



MELIERAX POLYZONUS. 



Melierax polyzonus (Rlipp.), Neue Wirbelth. p. 36, taf. 15 (1835) ; 

 Drake, Ibis, 1869, p. 153 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. p. 88. 



Saqr Schikl, Arab. ; Hatkaadak, Somali. 



ad. (N. Africa). Upper parts slate-grey, the sides of the head darker ; 

 larger wing-coverts and outer secondaries freckled with white ; primaries 

 blackish, washed with ashy grey ; upper tail-coverts white barred with 

 slate-grey ; tail blackish, but white at the extreme base and tip, the outer- 

 most feathers banded with white ; throat and breast ash-grey, the rest of the 

 under parts white narrowly barred with ash-grey; bill horn-black, the 

 base, cere, and legs vermilion ; iris pale umber-brown. Culmen T4, wing 

 12'5, tail 9'0, tarsus 3*5 inch. Female similar but rather larger. The 

 young bird is dull brown above, the feathers with fulvous or rusty 

 margins ; the throat whitish finely streaked with brown ; rest of the 

 under parts, upper and under tail-coverts white barred with rusty brown, 

 the tail greyish brown banded with dark smoky brown j bill blackish 

 horn, at the base bluish ; cere olive-green ; legs yellowish red, iris dull 

 brown. 



N N 2 



