lo HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



sive, the late Lord Lilford, who protected these birds, 

 had evidence of the hatching out of no less than ten 

 broods of Hobbies in his own neighbourhood in Nor- 

 thamptonshire, and sixteen nestlings were brought 

 to him without the destruction of any of the parent 

 birds. In 1898 Major C. H. Thompson secured 

 a nest of three young birds in Essex, which he 

 trained for Lark-hawking. 



The speed of the Hobby is considerable. On 

 May 15, 1888, one was taken alive whilst feed- 

 ing on a Swift which it had captured at Mistley, 

 in Essex. The Hobby has a much longer wing 

 than the Merlin, and may be distinguished by its 

 resemblance to a small Peregrine, with a black 

 cheek-patch, which is wanting in the Merlin. In 

 the Hobby the wing measures 10-11 in., in the 

 Merlin 7^-8^ in. 



Hobbies are sometimes, though rarely, seen in 

 winter. In October 1878 one was killed in the 

 Edmonton marshes, and another at St. Leonards ; 

 and in the following year a female Hobby was shot 

 at Bridgend, South Wales, on Nov. 30. 



MERLIN. Falco sesalon, Gmelin. PL 2, figs. 5, 6. Length, 

 ^10 in., $ 12 in. ; wing, ^ 7-75 in., $ 8-5 in. ; tarsus, 

 ^ 1-4 in., $ 1-5 in. 



Resident in Scotland, Ireland, and on the moors 

 of England and Wales, where it breeds. A winter 

 visitant to the south. 



This bird almost invariably nests upon the ground, 

 like the Short-eared Owl ; but Mr. Harvie-Brown 



