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FALCO SUBBUTEO. THE HOBBY FALCON. 



Falco Subbuteo. Linn. Syst. Nat. T. 127. 



Falco Subbuteo. Lath. Ind. Orn. I. 47. 



Hobby. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Faucon Hobereau. Falco Subbuteo. Temm. Man. d'Orn. I. 25 ; II. 12. 



Hobby. Falco Subbuteo. Selb. Illustr. I. 43. 



Falco Subbuteo. Hobby. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 82. 



Winps when closed extending beyond the tail. Male with a 

 black cheek-band, the upper parts greyish-black, the lower yellowish- 

 white, icith longitudinal brownish-black streaks, the lower tail- 

 coverts and tibial feathers red. Female with the upper parts 

 dark brown, the lower reddish-white, with broader dark brown 

 markings, the lower tail-coverts and tibial feathers of a lighter red. 



Male. — The Hobby bears a striking resemblance to the 

 Peregrine Falcon, but is much inferior in size, and differs in 

 having the wings longer, and the lower parts longitudinally 

 streaked. The head is large, roundish, and flattened above ; 

 the neck short ; the body ovate. The bill is short and strong ; 

 the upper mandible with its dorsal outline decurved from the 

 base, its sides convex, the edges with a slight festoon, and a 

 prominent angular process, the tip trigonal ; the lower man- 

 dible with the angle short and wide, the dorsal line convex^ 

 the back broad and rounded, the edges inflected, with a semi- 

 circular notch on each side close to the directly truncate tip. 

 Internally the upper mandible has a strong central ridge, the 

 lower, which is dee])ly concave, an elevated central line. The 

 tongue is fleshy, oblong, sagittate and papillate at the base, 

 concave above, horny with a median groove beneath, its tip 

 rounded and emarginate. The tarsi are feathered anteriorly 

 for a third of their length, short, slender, compressed behind, 

 covered before and on the sides with angular scales, of which 

 five over the joint are scutelliform. The toes are slender, con- 



