24 ASTUR BADIUS. 



surface is bolder, and the brown bands have a more perceptible dark edging ; they are also variable in hue, and are 

 continued more to the lower parts than in the other sex, some examples having the thigh-coverts barred like the 

 flanks ; the outer tail-feathers, as demonstrated by Ceylonese examples at any rate, are seldom without very 

 narrow bars on the inner webs. 



Obs. A very marked difference exists between fully-aged birds and those that have just assumed the barred phase : in 

 the latter the upper surface is very brown, and the bands of the lower surface are far apart and conspicuously 

 ed^ed with brown, giving the whole an umber rather than a sienna appearance. In this stage Ceylonese examples 

 of this Hawk resemble, on their under surface, the race characterized by Mr. Hume, in ' Stray Feathers ' (vol. ii. 

 p. 325), under the name of Micronisus poliopsis, and to which he contends the Pegu birds belong. The diagnosis of 

 this species is, " Very similar to M. badius, Guiel., but larger, the adult males a paler and purer grey, wanting the 

 nuchal rufescent collar and 'he central throat-stripe, and with the cheeks and ear-coverts unicolorous with the 

 crown." The young birds are also described as having no more than four bands on the central tail-feathers, 

 instead of five or six as in M. badius, and " in both sexes the barring of the lower surface seems on the whole broader 

 and more strongly marked than in any specimens of true badius." As regards the latter feature 31 r. Sharpe 

 remarks (Cat. Birds, i. p. 110) that it is "banded with broader and brighter vinous bands than its near ally." 

 The absence of the throat-stripe and the few caudal bars are valuable characteristics in differentiating it from 

 Ceylonese M. badius, but not so the vinous bands : in this respect M. badius appears to vary to a considerable 

 extent, particularly as regards birds not fully aged ; and this inclined Mr. Gurney to consider the Ceylonese 

 example spoken of (I.e.) to belong to the poZtopst's race. I have, however, shown him specimens in my collection 

 exhibiting this peculiarity, and he now considers it to be of no specific value. 



Young. These attain the full dimensions in the first year. 



Iris, at first greenish yellow, changing to saffron-yellow with age, and passing then through various shades of orange 

 to the red hue of old birds ; cere and orbitar skin greenish, changing to yellow ; legs and feet greenish yellow, 

 the feet changing first to the adult yellow, aud then the posterior part of the tarsus ; bill dark brown, with the 

 base only bluish. 



Head, upper surface, with the wing-coverts rich brown, pervaded with an ashy hue, and conspicuously edged with 

 brownish rufous, which, on the scapulars and tertials, is fulvescent, and across the hind neck often pales into 

 whitish ; the basal portion of the feathers is white, which shows more on the latter part than elsewhere : forehead, 

 face, and above the eye buff-white, striated with brown, which coalesces on the ear-coverts with the rufous-brown 

 of the sides of the head : quills brown, crossed by narrow dark bars (faint towards the tips), which show as 

 blackish brown on the buff under- wing. Tail brownish grey, crossed on both webs of all but the lateral feathers 

 with brown bars ; these are usually five in number on the central feathers in the male, and six in the female, the 

 basal bar lying beneath the coverts : on the remaining feathers the number varies, the penultimate in some examples 

 having no more than the central feather, while others have six or seven according to sex. 



Throat, fore neck, and under surface buff-white, the first-named part with a brown centre-stripe, and the rest of the 

 feathers down to the belly with large umber-brown " drops " and dark shafts ; these vary much in individuals — 

 pale and narrow in some, dark and heavy in others, particularly on the chest ; on the thighs aud lower parts they 

 narrow almost into stripes ; under tail-coverts, in pale examples pure white, in dark, heavily-marked birds with 

 narrow mesial stripes of brown. 



In the younger stages the drops have a constant tendency to turn into bars, these latter being most prevalent on the 

 flanks : many birds, I believe, have a tendency to the bar-like form of marking from the first, although this does 

 not lead to any quicker or more gradual assumption of the sienna barring, peculiar to the adult plumage ; for this is 

 put ou by a moult at once throughout the whole under surface, which takes place in some birds while the upper 

 surface is still in the immature dress, and is sometimes mingled with the chest-drops and bold dark bars of the 

 flanks. At this first moult to the adult dress the cheeks are generally streaked with brown on a pale ground. 



Distribution. — The Shikra is distributed throughout the island, extending into and resident in most parts 

 of the Kandyan Province. On the Nuwara Elliya plateau I have not observed it ; but it is no doubt a visitant 

 to that elevated region during the dry season. It is not uncommon on the Fort MacDonald patnas, and I have 

 procured it on Namooni-Kuli Mountain, near Badulla, which has an elevation of more than 6000 feet; it is 

 also met with in Dimbulla and the Knuckles district, so that it may be said generally to affect the mountain- 

 zone. In the interior of the lowlands it is resident ; and during the north-east monsoon it is common in the 

 cultivated districts round the sea-coast, taking up its abode in the vicinity of human habitations. It is fond of 

 establishing itself on cliffs, such as those at Trincomalie, and is frequently seen about the ramparts at Galle and 



