^o GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



their power of endurance, and so naturally like plenty 

 of room in which to operate. Short-wdnged hawks, 

 on the other hand, usually hunt in wooded localities, 

 where they are better able to surprise their victims 

 than in the open. 



After the kite, the shikra {Astur badius) is the 

 commonest bird of prey in India. It is in habits and 

 appearance very like the common sparrow-hawk 

 (Accipiter nisus). So great is the resemblance between 

 the two species that " Eha," in his Common Birds 

 of Bombay, gives an excellent description of the 

 shikra under the title of the Indian sparrow-hawk. 



Although the two Uttle hawks are so similar in ap- 

 pearance, ornithologists place them in different genera 

 on account of the considerably longer legs of the 

 sparrow-hawk proper and its heavily spotted and 

 blotched eggs, the eggs of the shikra being white and 

 almost entirely free from spots. 



The shikra is a shghtly-built bird about the same 

 length as a pigeon ; its tail is half a foot long. The 

 upper plumage is greyish. The wings and tail are 

 heavily barred with black. The breast is white, with 

 large brown spots in young birds ; in old birds the 

 brown spots are replaced by a number of thin wavy, 

 rust-coloured cross-bars. The femal^e, as is invariably 

 the case in birds of prey, is considerably larger than 

 the male, she being fourteen inches in length as against 

 his twelve and a half. But it is quite useless to attempt 

 to recognise a shikra, or indeed any other bird of prey, 

 from a description of its plumage. As " Eha " says : 

 "To try to make out hawks by their colour is at the 



