ASTUK BADIUS. 



(THE INDIAN GOSHAWK. 



Falco badius, Gm. S. N. i. p. 280 (1788). ■ 



Accipiter dukhunensis, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 79. 



Accipiter badius, Strickl. Ann. N. H. xiii. p. 33 (1844) ; Kelaart's Prodromus, Cat. p. 115 ; 



Layard, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1853, xii. p. 104. 

 Micronisus badius, Bp. Consp. i. p. 33; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 48; Hume, Rough Notes, i. 



p. 117 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 411 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 24; Legge, 



Ibis, 1875, p. 276. 

 Astur badius, Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 109 (1874) ; David and Oustalet, Ois. de la Chine, p. 24. 

 Scelospizias badius, Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 360. 

 The Brown HawJc, Brown, 111. Zool. p. 6, pi. 3 (1776). 

 The Shikra, Jerdon. Indian Spiarrow-ffawk, popularly in India. 

 Shikra (female), Ghipka (male), Hind.; Chinna-Wallur, Tam. (apud Jerdon). 

 Browns Sparrow-Hawk, Kelaart. 

 Ukussa, Sinhalese south of Ceylon ; Kurula-goya in north. 



Adult male. Length to front of cere 11/5 to 12 - 8 inches ; culinen from cere 06 to 0*63 ; wing 6 - 9 to 7"9 ; tail 5 - 5 to 

 6-2; tarsus l - 75 to 1*9 ; middle toe 1*0 to 1*12, its claw (straight) 04 to 0-45 ; hind toe 0-6, its claw (straight) 

 0-6 ; height of bill at cere 034 to 0-36. 



The largest examples do not equal those from Northern India ; the average length of wing of Ceylonese birds is about 7"3. 



Iris usually light crimson or orange-red, in very old examples fine crimson ; cere and orbitar skin greenish yellow, 

 the top of the generally greenish bill bluish, darkening at the tip ; tarsi and feet yellow, the front of the tarsus 

 streaked with greenish. 



Above bluish ashy, palest on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; top of the head and the nape shaded with brownish, 

 and a ruddy tinge generally on the hind neck ; quills ashy brown, the inner webs for two thirds of their length 

 from the base edged and barred with white, the brown interspaces being darker than the rest of the feather ; 

 beyond the notch there are indications of darkish bars ; tertials and scapulars with a large concealed white patch 

 down their centres ; tail bluish grey, tipped with whitish ; central feathers unbarred, but slightly darker towards 

 the tip ; the outer feathers with faint brown bars towards the base of the inner web, the next with five bars on 

 the same web ; the two adjacent with four, which sometimes extend to the outer web ; the barring of the outer 

 tail-feathers varies in extent even in birds which are similarly pale throughout their plumage ; lores greyish ; chin 

 and gorge white ; cheeks, ear-coverts, and a narrow chin-stripe cinereous grey ; chest, breast, and flanks pale 

 sienna-colour, narrowly barred with white, which in no two specimens is alike*, being in some open and in others 

 very close, particularly on the chest ; belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts, with the sides of the upper coverts, 

 white, the bars gradually fading out on the lower breast ; under wing and lower surface of quills rufescent white. 



In a slightly younger stage of the adult plumage the upper surface is darker and pervaded with a cinereous hue ; the 

 bars on the inner web of the outer tail-feather extend nearly to the tip, and on the adjacent one there are as 

 many as in the young bird. 



Adult female. Length to front of cere 12-6 to 13-8 ; culmen from cere 0-63 to 0-65 ; wing 7- 7 to 8'2 ; tail 6-5 to 6-8 ; 



tarsus 2-0 to 2-2 ; mid toe 1-25. 

 Females, except perhaps those that are very old, are browner on the upper surface than males ; the barring of the under 



* In one remarkable specimen from Uva the entire under surface, from the throat to the lower breast, is openly 

 barred, the width of the white bands being the same throughout. 



