File:A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles (1862) (14748050664).jpg

Identifier: historyofbirdsof04bree (find matches)
Title: A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Bree, Charles Robert, 1811-1886
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: London, Groombridge and Sons
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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A.nisus. 1.—Li the darker upper plumage. 2.—In thecloser barring of the under plumage. 3.—In the underwing coverts being lighter rufous, and less barred, andby the deep black unicolorous primaries beneath, thoseof A. nisus being barred to the end. 4.—By the twofirst under tail feathers being unicolorous grey, whilethose of nisus are strongly barred. 5.—By the primariesbeing black brown and unicolorous above, while thoseof nistis are lighter, and distinctly barred. 6.—Thecheeks of the Levant Sparrow-Hawk are slight grey,while those of nisus are rufous. From the female of F. giirneyi that of A. nisusdiffers principally in the general character of the underplumage, which is rufous brown and white, not blackand white; the bars on the chest and body are broader,and on the thighs they become almost as rufous asthe bars on the male. From the young of F. gurneyi those of A. nisusdiffer most markedly in the deep light brown bordersof the primaries and upper tail feathers, which are
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LEVANT SPARROW-HAWK.Younsf Hale and Pemale. LEVANT SPARROW-HAWK. 189 absent in A. nisiis, wliilc in the under plumage thelarge oblong longitudinal brown spots, and the russetbars on the thighs and nndcr tail coverts at onceproclaim their distinctive characters. It is hardly necessary to say anything about thedistinction of this bird from M. badius, hrachydactylus,sphenurus, or polijzonoides, as it is altogether larger ^and different; and I shall point out some of thedistinctions between these birds in the next notice whentreating of M. hadius. The claim of F. gurneyi to a place in the Europeanavi-fauna rests at present on a single immature speci-men received by Mr. Gurney, from Athens, in theneighbourhood of which it was killed; but its similarityto A. nisus has no doubt been the reason of its havinghitherto been unobserved. My figures are the adult male and female, and theyoung male and female kindly sent me by Mr. Gurney,and drawn to a scale. The adult male has the upper plumage dar

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