138 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIT. 



Young birds are brown above, the feathers with 

 rufous edges at first, the white very consi^icuous 

 on the nape and supercilia ; lower parts white, bufl', 

 or brownish-buff, feathers of tlie breast, abdomen, 

 and lower wing-coverts with dark shaft-stripes and 

 spade or heart-shaped rufous-brown spots with dark 

 edges ; these spots pass into bars. 



"Bill bluish-grey; cere, legs, and toes yellow, 

 claws black ; irides yellow in young birds, orange in 

 old." (Blanford.) 

 Measurements. '' Sexes very differeiit in size. Length of female 



about 15" ; tail 7' ; wing 9-6 ; tarsus 2-4 ; mid-toe 

 without claw 1-6 ; bill from gape -85 : in the male, 

 length about 13 ; tail 6-5; wing 8; tarsus 2-1." 

 (Blanford.) 

 Habits, etc. The Sparrow-Hawk, the Basha of the Indian fal- 



coner, is another favourite and a good manj^ are 

 caught in the nets set for Goshawks, in the Hima- 

 layas and brought down for sale. This species is 

 more given to hunting in forests than is the Shikra 

 and may often be seen flying very low to the ground 

 and very fast, in the mornings and evenings. The 

 Himalayan variety (Hume's melanoscliistus) is a very 

 dark coloured bird, almost black above and deep 

 rusty red beneath. Mr. A. E. Jones, of Simla, has 

 found the species breeding in the vicinity of Mahasu 

 and the Catchment area, (Simla) but how far this 

 " Himalaj'an variety " extends east or west of Simla 

 I am unable to say. 



The flight of the Sparrow-Hawk while hunting is 

 unlike that of a Shikra, but while soaring the two 

 resemble each other very closely. 



In the hand, the very thin tarsi and the long thin 

 mid-toe separates this genus from Astur, at once. 



In the forest, like the Goshawk, this species drops 

 from a branch, flies very low and shoots almost 

 verticallj^ up into the tree it selects to alight in. 



The " Basha " is a better bird than the Shikra for 

 purposes of sport, being faster and following its 

 quarry for longer distances. Doves appear to be the 

 favourite food of the female Sparrow-Hawk, in its 

 wild state, and bunches of feathers dotted about 

 among the trees where a pair of these hawks have 

 made their home, tell their own tale. 



Hawks and falcons, even when soaring or flying 

 from place to place, have their eyes on every point 

 of the compass, and only the other day, I was wat- 

 ching a Sparrow-hawk, which flew close over my head, 

 when it suddenly turned sharp round, increased its 

 pace and dashed into a tree some hundreds yards 

 away in its rear. A crowd of shrieking parroquets 

 dashed out of the branches and 1 saw the hawk 

 flutter to the around as though it had got one in its 

 talons. 1 went up to see and found it was a dove 

 that had been caught and not a parrot. The hawk 

 had been flying in absolutely the opposite direction 



