ACCIPITEE VIRGATUS. 29 



Kelaart as the European Sparrow-Hawk. It is possible, nevertheless, that the Doctor's identification may 

 have been correct ; and in support of the idea that the European Sparrow-Hawk may have occurred in Ceylon, 

 I would here remark that I have lately received a specimen of the European Hobby from Ramisserum, auguring 

 favourably for the occurrence of other northern Hawks in the latitude of Ceylon. As to the present species it 

 is widely distributed in the low country and a frequent bird on the hills, ranging into the jungles of the main 

 range, whence I possess an example killed at Nuwara Elliya. It is not uncommon in the northern forests, in 

 the Eastern Province, and in the south-western hill district. I have obtained it at Baddegama and in Saffragam, 

 and have met with it in other forests on the west side of the island. It is frequently obtained in the Kandy 

 district and in the surrounding ranges, whence it figures now and then in the collections of Messrs. Whyte 

 and Co., of Kandy. 



This species is, according to Jerdon, found in all the large forests of India, inhabiting the Nilghiris, the 

 Eastern Ghats in places, the Malabar and Central-Indian forests, and the slopes of the Himalayas. It is like- 

 wise an inhabitant of Burmah, the Malaccan peninsula, the Andaman Islands, Java, Borneo, Timor, and the 

 Philippine Islands, and to the eastward of Burmah extends into China, Siberia, and Japan, if the birds from 

 the latter country do not all belong to Mr. Gurney's larger, short-legged race A. stevensoni. It is not a very 

 common bird in India, for most of the writers in ' Stray Feathers ' speak of it as being local in the regions they 

 treat of. Captain Feilden appears to be the only one who has procured it of late years in Burmah ; and in the 

 north-east of India, in the Mount Aboo district, but few specimens have been obtained. 



In China, however, Pere David says it arrives in the spring at Pekin in great numbers, and breeds in the 

 mountains of the provinces. 



Habits. — This little Sparrow-Hawk is a denizen of the jungle, rarely coming into the open country at any 

 distance from its sylvan haunts. I have frequently met with it in pairs, both old and young, and have always 

 found it a noisy bird, haranguing its feathered companions of the woods, who oftentimes collect in excited 

 mobs and annoy it with their incessant chatterings. It generally perches on the large limbs of trees and flies 

 from one to another, uttering its loud and shrill squeal, which somewhat resembles that of the little Goshawk 

 {Astur badius). Its cries must often lead to its discovery in the jungles which it frequents, as on all occasions 

 on which I have either met with it or shot it I have traced it by its note, which can be heard at some distance 

 in the stillness of the primeval forest. It is shy, as a rule ; but on one occasion, finding three immature birds 



white, boldly banded with spear-shaped broadish bands of brown and rufous, the latter hue mostly confined to the 

 centre of the bar ; the markings of the flanks darker than the rest ; thighs barred with brown ; under wing-coverts 

 buff, with arrow-headed spots of brown ; under tail-coverts whitish, unmarked. 



Obs. This plumage is acquired by the dissolving of the longitudinal streaks of brown into the bold bar-shaped markings ; 

 this is well shown in the series of feathers given by Mr. Sharpe in an article on the subject (P. Z. S. 1873, pi. 39), 

 and from which it can be observed that the longitudinal " drop " in the process of its dissolution expands at 

 various pomts into bars, the white portion of the web advancing as an interspace to the shaft, leaving, however, 

 at this first stage, pointed projections at the lower side of the bar, these being in reality the remains of the stripe. 



Note. — I can neither include this, nor one or two other species to be noticed further on, as undoubted Ceylonese birds, 

 as their occurrence in the island is, as in the present case, matter of uncertainty, or has been accepted from mere visual 

 testimony. It appears advisable, however, to include them in footnotes, in order that sufficient information may be given 

 to enable my Ceylon readers to identify the species should they occur hereafter in the island. 



Distribution. — The evidence as to the occurrence of this species in Ceylon is summed up in the following sentence 

 (Kelaart, Prodronms, p. 96) : — "Accipiter nisus is very rare; we have only seen one live specimen." It is possible, as I 

 have remarked in my article on Accipiter virgatus, that Kelaart may have been correct in his identification ; but it must be 

 remembered that, though a naturalist, he did not make ornithology his study, and those birds which were collected for 

 him (he never used a gun himself) were identified by others, chiefly by Blyth, I believe. In the case of this bird, the 

 specimen was a living one, so that I incline to the belief that it was a Jungle Sparrow- Hawk and not the European 

 species. The latter is a cold-weather visitant to India, and is spread during that season, sparingly, over the whole of the 

 empire. It is always to be found in the Nilghiris, on the Eastern Ghauts, and other hilly portions of Central India. It 



