ACCIPITER VIRGATTJS. 
27 
often with a rufous hue ; quills brown, with a series of faiut lighter bars, which show whitish beneath on the 
terminal half and buff towards the base ; secondaries and tertials barred near the inner edge with white ; tail 
brownish ashy above, tipped pale and crossed with four dark bands, the terminal one at the tip and the basal 
sometimes concealed beneath the coverts ; on the inner web of the lateral feathers there are five indistinct bands, 
which fade out entirely in very old birds. 
Chin and throat buff-white, with a broad central stripe of dark slate-colour ; chest, sides of breast, and flanks uniform 
rufous, or sometimes with a few white streaks, caused by the edges of underlying brown-centred feathers ; centre 
of the breast and the belly barred with rufous on a white ground ; thighs rufous, barred slightly with pale grey : 
under tail-coverts pure white ; lower surface of the tail grey ; under wing-coverts buff-white, spotted with brown. 
Obs. The under surface varies considerably in birds which have not quite reached the above fully-matured dress ; these 
have usually an ashen hue on the sides of chest, the edges of centre chest-feathers white, and the middle of the 
lower breast and belly plainly barred with rufous ashen. Other examples have the white barring continued across 
the whole breast to the flanks, and in these the thighs are boldly barred. 
Adult female. Length to front of cere 13 - 0 to 13 - 3 : eulmen from cere 0’52 ; wing 7 ‘5 to 8’0 ; tail 6’0 to 6 - o ; tarsus 
2 - 2 to 2-4 ; extent of wing 24'0 to 25-5. 
Ceylon females do not often exceed 7'6 in the wing, the above limit applying to a fine specimen from Northern India 
in the British Museum. 
Iris yellow, in some orange-yellow, with a dark outer rim occasionally ; bill, legs, and feet as in male. 
Hind neck, back, and wings smoky brown, but the head and nape similar to those of the male ; the cheeks and ear-coverts 
paler than the crown ; the light portions of the tail have the same smoky hue instead of being ashy as in the male : 
throat, fore neck, and centre of the chest white, the latter part boldly dashed with dark brown, running into the 
broad chin-stripe above ; sides of the fore neck and chest rufous, the latter, together with the breast, flanks, and 
lower parts, boldly barred with white, the interspaces being rufous on the upper parts, and rufous ashen on the 
belly and thighs ; under tail-coverts white, in some with terminal streaks of brown ; under wing-coverts as in the 
male. 
The female appears never to acquire the uniform rufous breast of the male : and the above description represents, I 
ACCIPITER NISUS. 
(THE SPARROW-HAWK.) 
Falco nisus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 130 (1766). 
Accvpiter nisus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 370; Gray, Gen. Birds, i. p. 29, pi. 10. fig. 4; Kelaart’s Prodromus, 
Cat. p. 115 ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 104 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 51 ; Hume, Rough Notes, 
i. p. 124 ; Sharpe and Dresser, B. of Europe, pt. ix. ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 132 (1874). 
Basha (female), Basldn (male), Hind., apud Jerdon ; KargTiai, Turki (Scully). 
Adult female (India). Length to front of cere 14-0 to 16’0 inches ; eulmen 0'55; wing 8’0 to 10-0 ; tail 7'5 to 8'0 : 
tarsus 2-3 to 2-5 ; middle toe 1‘6 to 1-8, claw (straight) 0-5 ; height of bill at cere 0’3. 
Adult male (India). Length to front of cere 118 to 12'2 ; eulmen from cere 0*5 ; wing 8’0 to 8’3; tail 6’0 to 6’4 : 
tarsus 2-2 to 2-3 ; middle toe 1-35. 
Iris varying from saffron-yellow to orange-yellow'; cere yellow; bill dark horn, bluish at the base; legs and feet 
gamboge-yellow’ ; claws black. 
Male. Above dusky slate-colour, darkest on the head, and more so on the upper back than on the rump ; the feathers 
at the sides of the hind neck edged with rufous, and those at the back with white bases ; quills ashy brown, the 
terminal portions of the primary outer webs greyish, the inner w’ebs barred widely with brown and white 
internally towards the base ; tail greyish brown, with four or five browm bars, the subterminal one the broadest. 
A lightish space just above the lores ; cheeks and ear-coverts more or less rufous ; throat whitish, washed with rufous 
