ASTUE BADIUS. 25 



Jaffna. In the early part of May it retires into the interior to breed, and is not seen about its maritime haunts 

 until October. In spite of this local migration to the sea-coast, the Shikra may be found throughout the 

 year, in spots suitable to its habits, in most of the inland districts. In the Eastern Province I found it tolerably 

 frequent in October, but scarcely met with it at all during two trips to the south-eastern forest districts. In 

 the Western Province it is an inhabitant of the cocoa-nut districts bordering the sea-coast, retiring for the 

 most part into the interior, as is the case on the east coast, during the south-west monsoon. 



The Shikra is found pretty well all over the plains of India from the extreme south to the Himalayas, 

 into which it ascends to an elevation of 5000 feet. It is a bird of local distribution, notwithstanding its 

 extensive habitat. Mr. Hume speaks of it in Sindh as being not uncommon in the cultivated portions, but 

 not found in the "desert or rocky tracts." Mr. V. Ball, again, says that it has a somewhat local distribution 

 " in the large district of Chota Nagpur." It extends into Burmah and Malayana, and thence, according to Pere 

 David, into China, that is, if all the birds found in these regions belong to the true badius race ; westward of 

 Sindh it is found as far as Afghanistan ; but this, I believe, is its furthest limit. 



Habits. — This interesting little Hawk may be observed in every variety of situation but heavy forest. Cliffs 

 on the sea-coast, rocky eminences in the interior, isolated groves of trees, cocoa-nut compounds surrounding 

 native villages, the borders of paddy-fields and cinnamon-plantations dotted with large trees, are among the 

 localities which it frequents. In the wilder parts of the country it is partial to " cheenas"* and new clearings 

 in the forest, where it may be seen flying rapidly from tree to tree, or seated on a blackened stump discussing 

 the remains of some lusty lizard. It affects coffee-plantations in the hills and bushy patnas, and is often seen 

 in the vicinity of the bungalows, on the look-out, perhaps, for stray chickens. Its favourite diet is the ubi- 

 quitous lizard (Calotes), the remains of which I have found in every example dissected. It feeds also on mice 

 and large beetles ; and I once shot one on the Fort-MacDonald patnas in the act of darting at a Bulbul. It 

 no doubt captures birds when pressed with hunger, but small reptiles and insects form the better part of its 

 sustenance. It is commonly trained in India, and is taught to catch small game-birds ; but its courageous 

 disposition prompts it to attack (according to Jerdon) even " young Pea-fowl and small Herons." It is a 

 persistent tormentor of both the Common and the Carrion-Crow in Ceylon, and may be often seen pursuing 

 them high in the air, darting at them from above and beneath, much to the discomfiture of the " Corbies," 

 who usually escape by a sudden swoop into the trees below. Its flight is a steady, straight-on-end movement, 

 performed with quick beatings of the wings ; but it sometimes soars to a considerable height, making quick 

 circles, and then suddenly swoops down, alighting in an adjacent tree. It is a very noisy bird, making its 

 shrill two-note whistle or scream heard for some distance, and furnishing a capital sound for the clever 

 imitative powers of the Green Bulbul (Phyllomis jerdoni) . 



Mr. Ball remarks of it, in his avifauna of Chota Nagpur ( f Stray Feathers/ 1874), "that at the season of 

 the jungle- fires numbers of these birds assemble to hunt the grasshoppers and other orthopterous insects 

 which are compelled to take flight before the advancing flames." Another writer, Mr. Thompson, says that 

 they are very fond of frogs. 



Nidification. — I have never succeeded in getting the eggs of this Hawk in Ceylon, though it must breed 

 freely in the interior and not very far from the sea-coast. The nesting-season, I have ascertained from 

 dissection of many examples, is from April to June ; and it retires to sequestered jungles to rear its young, as 

 I have met with it in the wilds of the interior at this season in a state of breeding. In India it breeds in 

 April and May, and, in some parts, in June. The nest, writes Mr. Hume, " is usually placed in a fork high 

 up and near the top of the tree. It is but loosely built of twigs and smaller sticks, lined with fine grass-roots, 

 and averages about 10 inches in diameter." As architects he does not attribute to them much talent, 

 remarking that they take " a full month in preparing their nest, only putting in two or three twigs a day, 

 which they place and replace as if they were very particular and had a great eye for a handsome nest ; whereas, 

 after all their fuss and bother, the nest is a loose ragged-looking affair, that no respectable crow would 

 condescend to lay in !" The eggs are usually three, but sometimes four; they are oval in shape and smooth 

 in texture ; they are delicate, pale bluish white, either devoid of markings or sprinkled openly throughout 

 with faint greyish specks and spots. They average 1'55 by 1'22 inch. 



* Land cleared by the natives for the purposes of cultivation. 



\ 



