274 



oribus et rufescente tinctis : gula albida : corpore subtus rufo et albo transfasciato : abdomine imo 

 pallidiore, crisso et subcaudalibus albidis vix cervino tinctis : rostro fusco-plumbeo, cera flava : iride 

 saturate flava. 



Adult Male (India). Upper parts ashy grey, with a somewhat irregular rufescent collar on the hind neck ; 

 quills dark ashy grey, becoming blackish on the terminal portion, the inner web on the basal portion 

 buffy white with broad blackish bars ; middle tail-feathers ashy grey, unbarred ; the remaining rectrices 

 with five or six broad blackish bands, but the outermost ones are only obsoletely barred on the basal 

 portion of the inner web ; sides of the head paler and tinged with rufous ; throat buffy white ; under- 

 pays rusty red, narrowly barred with white, becoming paler on the lower abdomen ; under tail-coverts 

 and vent white with a tinge of buff : bill dusky black ; cere yellow ; iris yellow. Total length about 

 12 inches, gape 0"7, wing 7'2, tail 5 - 7, tarsus 2*0. 



Adult Male ( Astrabad) . Resembles the male above described, but is larger, and paler both on the upper 

 and under parts, and the outer tail-feathers are distinctly barred. Total length about 14 inches, 

 gape - 7, wing 7"5, tail 6 - 3, tarsus 2 - 0. 



The female is, as a rule, browner than the male on the upper parts, and deeper in tinge of colour on the 

 underparts. 



Young [fide Blanford) . Brown above, the feathers at first with rufous edges, their white bars conspicuous 

 on the head and nape ; all the tail-feathers are barred, the bars on the outer feathers narrower and 

 rather more numerous ; the lower parts are white, with large elongate brown spots, largest on the 

 breast, and there is generally a median brown spot on the throat. 



The range of the present species of Sparrow-Hawk extends from Transcaspia through Persia and 

 Turkestan to India, as far east as Southern China, and in the south to Ceylon. The bird found 

 in Transcaspia and Turkestan, eastward to Baluchistan, was described by Severtzoff as a distinct 

 species under the name of A. cenchroicles, and is, in fact, a large, rather pale, form, but I cannot 

 look on it as specifically separable from the Indian bird. I have one specimen obtained by 

 Dr. G. Ptadde at Astrabad on the 24th April, and this gentleman states (Vdg. Transcasp. p. 11) 

 that he found it in all parts of Transcaspia wherever there were trees or bushes, and also on the 

 banks of watercourses in the gardens. He observed it at Gerrnab on the 16th March, and 

 believes that a few remain over the winter there ; and, oddly enough, it was met with on the 

 shores of the lagoons of the Molla-kary, where only the tamarisk grows. He found it breeding 

 in Kulkulau and Sary-jasy, and saw young birds early in July at Neu-Serachs. Mr. Zarudny 

 states (Recherch. Zool. Transcasp. p. 44) that it is very common in the woods near the Tedgend 

 and Murghab, but rare, at least in summer, in the gardens of the oases of Merv and Pinde, and, 

 as a rule, avoids the vicinity of human habitations. He did not observe it in the tamarisk- 

 thickets on the Atrek, Soumbar, or Tschandyr, but it breeds in the woods on the mountains in 

 the vicinity of these rivers. Dr. Severtzoff obtained it near Tashkent, and records it (I. c.) as 

 met with during migration in Turkestan, at Aulje-ata and Chimkent; and, according to the 

 Kirghis, it occurs in the forests near the Syr-Darja, Chu, and Talass. Sir Oliver St. John 

 obtained it at Quetta: and Mr. Blanford records it as found in Baluchistan, Sind, and the 

 Punjab, and states (Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, iii. p. 399) that it is " resident throughout India, 

 Burma, and Ceylon, ascending the hills of the Indian Peninsula to their summits, and breeding 



