AND NORTHERN GUZERAT. 445 



23.— Micronisus badius, Qmel. 



The Shikra occurs in most parts of the country, though not 

 very abundantly, excepting during the cold weather, at which 

 season it is common. It ascends the hills. 



[We have this from all the sub-divisions, but it is, I believe, 

 very locally distributed, never occurring in the more barren 

 and arid tracts which form so large a proportion of the area 

 of most of them. — A. 0. H.] 



24. — Accipiter nisus, Lin, 



The European Sparrow Hawk occurs sparingly in the plains 

 and on the hills during the cold weather ; it is however by no 

 means common. The much more slender claws and tarsus 

 renders it at a glance distinguishable from the preceding species. 



TI have the European Sparrow Hawk, from Kutch (shot by 

 Stoliczka), and have myself procured it at Sambhur, Ajmere, 

 Sirohi and Sindh, but it is nowhere more than a chance 

 straggler. In Jodhpoor and Kattiawar, it also occurs, but is 

 apparently very rare there. — A. 0. H.] 



[25. — Accipiter virgatus, Tern. 



A young male of this species was obtained at or near 

 Aboo by Dr. King. Stoliczka obtained a couple of young 

 birds in Cutch. Adam two or three, also young ones, at the 

 Sambhur Lake. These are the only instances I have on record 

 of its occurrence in any part of the whole region with which 

 I am dealing, and, indeed, this is quite outside its province, and 

 I doubt whether adidts ever find their way so far, it being 

 only birds of the year, and these few and far between, that 

 turn up there from time to time. — A. 0. H.] 



28. — Aquila nsevia, Gmel. 



The Spotted Eagle is not uncommon about the tanks between 

 Ahmedabad and Deesa. I shot several specimeus myself, and 

 upon one occasion I saw a native throw a " boomerang" at one 

 on a low tree and knock it down. Most of the birds I have seen 

 have been in the deep umber brown plumage, with purple re- 

 flections on the upper parts, agreeing exactly with one or two 

 of the birds described by Mr. Hume in his " Rough Notes on the 

 Indian Haptores," pages 168 to 172. It is not a very shy bird, 

 and generally when not on the wing sits on some low tree near 

 the water. It is a considerably smaller bird than Aquila im- 

 perialis Bechst : the female only measuring 27 or 28 inches. 



[Occurs throughout the entire region, but as a rule, only 

 in the neighbourhood of tanks, jheels and canals. In all the 

 more desert portions of the country, it is very rare or absent, 



