HOBBY. 67 



Wales. In Cornwall it is rare, according to Mr. Eodd, who 

 only mentions two examples obtained in that county; while 

 Dr. Bnllmore, in his ' Cornish Fauna,' describes a third. 

 In Devonshire, Dr. Moore and Mr. Brooking Rowe, in their 

 catalogues of the birds of that county, have recorded two 

 localities where it used formerly to breed ; and Mr. Murray 

 Mathew stated that there was a nest near Chagford in 

 1870. In Somerset, Mr. Cecil Smith says that it is a very 

 rare bird. It does not seem to be much commoner in Dorset 

 or Wilts ; and thence Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, ^and 

 Lincolnshire seem to form the north-western frontier of the 

 district in which it can be said usually to breed, though 

 instances are known of its having done so in Nottingham- 

 shire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire. In Scotland, according to 

 Mr. Robert Gray, it has probably bred in the Isle of Arran, 

 and though not a common species throughout that kingdom, 

 its occurrence is now so frequent as to excite some surprise 

 that it should have escaped the observation of many previous 

 authors ; and an example has been killed so far to the north 

 as Caithness. In the parts of England south and east of 

 the line indicated above, it would no doubt breed every year, 

 were it unmolested. 



The Hobby is an inhabitant of the continent of Europe 

 generally, from Spain, where, though not numerous, it breeds, 

 to Sweden. In June, 1867, Mr. Thomas Edward Buckley 

 obtained a male bird at Jockmock in Lapland, just on the 

 Arctic circle, and this would appear to be its most northern 

 limit. In Finland, at least in the middle and south, it 

 occurs, and thence, according to Pallas, extends across the 

 Russian dominions to Kamtchatka. Southward of this, 

 Mr. Swinhoe met with it at various places in China. In 

 India, it is known as a common winter visitant to some 

 parts of the Himalayas, but is rare in the plains, and 

 probably does not breed in the country, where the allied 

 Falco sercnis takes its place. Turning westward, De Filippi 

 obtained it in June at Mareud, in Western Persia. In 

 Palestine, Canon Tristram mentions it as a rather late 

 summer visitor. In Egypt it would seem to be not common. 



