TBE BIRDS OF NORTH CACHAR. 401 



(530) Accipeter virgatus, — The Besra Sparrow-hawk. 



Hume, No. 25; Blanford, No. 1248. 

 This is the common Sparrow-hawk in Cachar ; is found everywhere 

 from the plains to the tops of the highest hills. It breeds everywhere 

 where there is suitable forest, and its nidification differs in no way from 

 that of the common Sparrow-hawk. The eggs average rather smaller, 

 about 1*6" X 1'2", and they are, on the whole, less richly coloured than 

 are those of A. nisus. I have one clutch of eggs totally devoid of all 

 markings, and had they not been taken by myself and the old bird shot 

 off the nest, I could not have believed them to be anything else but the 

 eggs of some Gos-hawk. 



(531) Pernis cristatus.— The Crested Honey Buzzard. 

 Hume, Nos. 57 and 57 bis ; Blanford, No. 1249. 



In Vol. IX of " Stray Feathers," p. 245, Inglis records this bird as 

 being "Not uncommon ; generally seen near heavy forest." I have not 

 yet managed to secure a single specimen and have only seen some half 

 dozen, at the most, during the ten years I have been in and about 

 Cachar. I should call it a decidedly rare bird. I have observed one 

 or two birds in the high valleys to the East, but have never had the 

 chance of a shot, as they keep amongst the trees, and on anyone's 

 approach dodge away amongst the tops, and a shot, when fired, usually 

 expends itself on leaves and branches instead of the body of the bird. 

 (532) Baza lophotes. — The Black-crested Baza. 

 Hume, No. 58 ; Blanford, No. 1251. 



I have found this a very decidedly rare bird in Cachar. I am told 

 that they are seen every now and then, but very seldom, in Hailakandy, 

 to the south of the district, and I have seen a few in the extreme north 

 of the North Cachar Hills, where the hills almost cease and the valley 

 of the Brahmaputra commences. I also saw one bird in the Mahar 

 Valley, but this is the only one I have met with any distance inside the 

 hills. 



I saw three of these birds once flying round and round my rest- 

 house at Diyungmukh, and was much struck by their resemblance to 

 crows in flight as they continually indulged in a heavy flapping, such as 

 is not at all the form of flight usually associated in one's mind with a 

 bird of prey. Their cry was kite-like in sound, yet utterly distinct from 

 any kite's cry that I have ever heard. It was much softer than that of 



