Melierax

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{automatic taxobox

| image = Pale Chanting Goshawk .jpg

| image_caption = Pale chanting goshawk (Melierax canorus)

| taxon = Melierax

| authority = G.R. Gray, 1840

| type_species = Falco musicus{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=36 |title= Accipitridae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-26}}

| type_species_authority = Daudin, 1800

}}

Melierax is a genus of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Established by George Robert Gray in 1840, it contains the following species:

{{Species table |genus=Melierax |authority-name=G.R. Gray|authority-year= 1840 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Dark chanting goshawk|binomial=Melierax metabates

|image=File:Dark chanting goshawk (Melierax metabates metabates) with francolin.jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Heuglin|authority-year= 1861 |authority-not-original=

|range= sub-Saharan Africa, but avoids the rainforest of the Congo basin and the far south

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=45cm

|habitat=savannah, open woodland

|hunting=birds, small mammals, reptiles

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Five subspecies |bullets=on

|M. m. metabates: Senegal and the Gambia east to Ethiopia, south to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Tanzania.

|M. m. neumanni: Mali east to northern Sudan.

|M. m. theresae: south west Morocco.

|M. m. ignoscens: South western Arabia, i.e. south western Saudi Arabia and western Yemen.

|M. m. mechowi: south eastern Gabon to Angola, south Tanzania south to northern Namibia and north eastern South Africa.

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Pale chanting goshawk|binomial=Melierax canorus

|image=File:Southern pale chanting goshawk, Melierax canorus, at Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Northern Cape, South Africa (34496263232).jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Thunberg|authority-year= 1799 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= South Africa

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=55cm

|habitat=desert

|hunting=small mammals and reptiles

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on

| M. c. argentior - Clancey, 1960

| M. c. canorus - (Thunberg, 1799)

}}

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Eastern chanting goshawk|binomial=Melierax poliopterus

|image=File:Eastern Chanting-Goshawk (Melierax poliopterus).jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Cabanis|authority-year= 1868 |authority-not-original=

|range= East Africa

|range-image=

|range-image-size=180px

|size=49 to 55cm

|habitat=semi-desert, grassland

|hunting= lizards, smaller birds, insects

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

The name Melierax is a combination of the Greek words melos, meaning "song" and hierax, meaning "hawk".