810 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XIV 



V. Sides of throat grey in adults ; wing 12" B. ceylo 



(Legge's Baza). 



We now corae to the typical Hawks and Falcons which, to my mind, 

 form the most interesting group of the whole family, and are the birds 

 most resorted to for falconry. The Hawks, Blanford says, can easily 

 be distinguished from Falcons, Eagles, Buzzards, Kites and Harriers 

 " by having proportionately shorter and more rounded wings, and from 

 " all, except the Harriers, by having the tibia and tarsus nearly equal in 

 length." 



The Hawks and Falcons are all well known to native falconers, but 

 strange to aay, to falconers alone. Of course there are a few natives who can 

 tell a Goshawk from a Shikra, or a Laggar Falcon from a Peregrine, but 

 it will always be found to be misleading to ask a native, however good a 

 shikari he may be, if he is not a falconer by trade, what a certain bird is. 

 If he gives the right name, it is ten chances to one by a fluke ; but as 

 a rule, be will name something quite different. Of course, there are 

 exceptions but very few and far between, so it is really never safe, if you 

 wish to find out what kind of a hawk it is that has just carried off your 

 wounded duck, to ask your sMJcari. In all probability he will answer 

 promptly ' laggar ' as that is the word that seems to come easiest to them, 

 and the bird, ten to one, is a Peregrine or a Shaheen. A regular falconer, 

 however, will never be deceived, and some of them, I daresay, know 

 more about the different points for identification between Hawks and 

 Falcons than our greatest naturalists, and are exceptionally sharp at re- 

 cognizing birds on the wing and a long way off. For instance, it is uncom- 

 monly hard work to distinguish between a female Shikra {Astur badius) 

 and a male Sparrow-Hawk or " bashin " (^Accipiter nisus) when flying, some 

 distance off, but a falconer will tell you at a single glance. To resume, 

 however. 



The next 3 genera comprise 6 species of the typical hawks and they are — 

 Astur, Lophospizias and Accipiter, 



Key to the Genera. 



a. Size moderate or small ; tarsus scutellated behind. 

 a' Bill from gape |- to f length of mid-toe with- 

 out claw. 



a^ No crest Astuk. 



&^ A small occipital crest Lophospizias. 



b' Bill from gape about half mid- toe without claw. Accipiter. 



The genus Accipiter also has much longer and slenderer tarsi and 

 toes, the middle toe being very long and projecting far beyond the 

 others. 



The only difference between Astur and Lophospizias, of which there is but 

 one Indian species, is in the latter having a small crest and rather different 

 marking on the breast. 



