216 BIRDS. 



indeed it is said to eat the vanquished now and again. 

 The resident peregrines of these islands are temporarily 

 augmented by immature birds on autumn migration. The 

 peregrine still breeds in the cliffs of our south and south- 

 west coasts, and in the Xorth, though many reported cases 

 are partly apocryphal. The bird is easily distinguished 

 from others of the same size by the conspicuous black- 

 ness of the head, as well as by the black line on either 

 side the throat ; and its " kek, kek," is a somewhat more 

 distinctive cry than that of most of its kind. It nests 

 on the ground among the cliffs, or in the deserted nest of 

 a crow or other large bird. It never builds a nest in any 

 case, but it will return year after year to a suitable site. 

 Eggs, 2 to 4, 2 inches ; yellowish, with red spots. 



The Hobby is with us, though in no great numbers, from 

 May to October, breeding in Hampshire and other south- 

 ern counties, not, however, farther north than 

 Yorkshire. It has been taken in almost every 

 part of Scotland, to which country it can, however, be re- 

 garded as only a straggler ; while from Ireland not more 

 than eight examples have been recorded. Its food consists 

 for the most part of large insects, also of small birds. In 

 many respects, as, for example, the long pointed wings and 

 the black head and throat-stripe, it bears considerable re- 

 semblance to its larger ally the peregrine. Like the latter, 

 too, it breeds in the nests of other birds ; and a curious 

 habit has been noticed in the female bird — namely, that 

 of brooding, before her own eggs are laid, on those of the 

 kestrel, a freak which has given rise to some curious 

 mistakes. Eggs, 3, 4, or 5, over i)4 inch; yellowish, 

 speckled with red. 



§ Red-footed Falcon. — Practically an annual spring and 



autumn visitor, though never in numbers. It comes chiefly 



to the southern counties of England, though in Yorkshire, 



where it was first added to the British list,^ as many as a 



1 Clarke aucl Roebuck, Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire, p. 47. 



