30 
ACCIPITEE VIEGATITS. 
together, I shot one, and the others were so tame as to fly out of the tree and immediately return to it again, 
one of them thereby following his companion into my collection. The diet of the Besra consists of small 
reptiles, coleoptera, and other large insects, the lizard ( Calotes ) being its favourite food in Ceylon. In India 
it is, says Jerdon, highly esteemed among native falconers, and is caught by means of a trap called there 
“ Do Guz.” This is a small, dark-coloured net, fixed to two thin bamboos lightly stuck in the ground, and which 
give way on the bird striking the net M'hile it is dashing at a decoy picketed in front of it. On this happening 
the meshes instantly fold round the hawk and effectually prevent its escape. It is flown at partridges, snipes, 
and doves, and “ is particularly active and clever in the jungle.” The male is, however, according to the same 
writer, rarely trained. I do not think it is in the habit of soaring as much as its European ally. I have on 
one occasion seen it taking a few small circles in the air ; but they were quickly over, and it again dashed off 
to its sylvan haunts. 
Nidification . — In Ceylon this Hawk breeds about the month of May, during which I once procured a 
female containing an egg almost ready for expulsion, but which was unfortunately broken by my shot. It 
was of a pale green colour and unspotted, but would have most likely received some markings had the bird 
lived to lay it. In India nothing seems to be known concerning its nidification, and I never heard of its nest 
being found in Ceylon. 
is common on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, where also Mr. Hume’s larger race (A. melanochistus ) has its home. 
It is doubtfully recorded from leuasserim; and in 18 id Mr. Hume received a specimen from the Audamans, which is its 
most south-easterly limit. 
Dr. Jerdon remarks that “ it conies in very regularly about the beginning of October, and leaves again about the eud 
of February or March according to the locality.” 
It is spread over the whole of Europe, including Great Britain, and extends through Central Asia to China, and 
southwards from the Mediterranean into Algeria and north-east Africa. 
Habits . — The Sparrow-Hawk frequents wooded country, and preys on small birds and quadrupeds. It is a bird of 
powerful flight, but not so active as its Indian congener, the Besra ; but it is nevertheless trained for falconry in some 
parts of India. It is a bird of predatory disposition, and consequently it is under a ban in a game-preserving country 
like England. It is described in Tarrell’s ‘ British Birds ’ as being so “ daring during the season in which its own 
nestlings require to be provided with food as frequently to venture among the out-buildings of the farmhouse, where it 
has been observed to rapidly skim over the poultry-yard, snatch up a chick, and get off with it in an instant.” 
Nidification .— This species breeds sparingly in the Himalayas up to 8000 feet, building, as it does in Europe, in 
trees. In England it often takes possession of the nest of a crow, and repairs the lining for the reception of its own eggs, 
these are four or live in number, of a bluish-white or greenish-white ground, handsomely blotched and spotted with rich 
reddish brown or brownish crimson, the markings being sometimes collected in a zone near one end. Dimensions l - 7 by 
l - d inch. The beautiful specimens figured by Mr. Hewitson (plate vii. figs. 2 & 3) represent in a very interesting manner 
the variety in the eggs of the Sparrow-Hawk. The first is openly and handsomely blotched throughout with rich sepia, 
softened at the edges over other markings of light brownish, while the second has the obtuse end covered with confluent 
clouds of sepia-brown, overlying rather small and somewhat lineated blots, which are scattered rather thickly over the 
entire surface. 
