The crested goshawk may be described in brief as a largeshikra with a crest.
The shikra is very like the brain-fever bird in appearance.
Shikra Hawk 236 The upper surface of the tail, not shown in this drawing, exactly corresponds with that of the cuckoo "mimic.
The shikra is a slightly-built bird about the same length as a pigeon; its tail is half a foot long.
After the kite, the shikra (Astur badius) is the commonest bird of prey in India.
Shikra nestlings show fight when interfered with and peck savagely at the intruder.
The shikra nests from April to June, building, high up in a lofty tree, a nest which can scarcely be described as a triumph of avine architecture.
However, hawking with a shikra is, in my opinion, very poor sport, for the shikra makes but one dash at its quarry, and at once desists if it fails to secure it.
The sparrow-hawk and the shikra are familiar examples of the short-winged hawks.
Some crows were witnesses of the feat, and at once proceeded to attack the shikra so vehemently that it let go of the squirrel, which made good its escape.
I once saw a shikra pounce upon a little striped squirrel.
The shikra has comparatively feeble claws, and so is unable to tackle any large quarry.
A trained shikra is very tame and does not show any objection to being handled.
They were quite as disappointed as the shikra when the little rodent regained its liberty.
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.
It is not until after months of captivity that it will sit on the floor of its house and gaze placidly at the hungry shikra which has alighted on the top.
Speaking figuratively, its ancestors learned by experience that the shikra is a dangerous bird--a bird to be feared--and this experience has been inherited.
The shikra is a kind of sparrow-hawk, common in India.
On looking round, I discovered that a chaprassi had silently entered the room with a shikra on his wrist.
When one of the kind of bird to which it has been trained is flushed, the hawker takes the shikra in his hand, holds it between his thumb and fingers, and then throws it like a javelin in the direction of its quarry.
Jerdon says: "If theShikra sparrow-hawk be thrown at them, they defend each other with great courage, mobbing the hawk and endeavouring to release the one she has seized.
Hawking with the shikra is, in my opinion, very poor sport, for this little bird of prey makes but one dash at its quarry, and at once desists if this does not enable it to overhaul it.
For generations those bulbuls who did not fear and avoid the shikra fell victims to it, while the more cautious ones survived and their descendants inherited this characteristic.
To express the matter in more exact language, this inherited fear of the shikra is the product of natural selection.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "shikra" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
