Description:
Buff-brown upper-parts, heavily marked with black, greyish (grayish) facial disk. Under-parts paler buff-brown with black streaks, and fine brown barring on belly, white throat.

Distribution:
Widespread, but everywhere scarce, locally endangered.

Worldwide Distribution
Bessarabia, Crimea, Caucasus, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria and Iran.

Habitat:
Mountainous forest, semi-desert and rocky slopes land.

Diet:
large birds, a variety of small- and medium-sized mammals including rabbits and hares, roe deer fawns, young foxes, hedgehogs and farmyard cats. Also frogs, newts and crabs

Breeding:

Call: