FALCO. 



42S 



migrating to Africa and India in the winter. The Hobby probably 

 breeds in the Himalayas, where it is commonly found, and it is a 

 summer visitor to Gilgit ; in the plains of India it has only been 

 met with occasionally, chiefly to the northward, the most southern 

 reported localities being Jalna (Jerdon), Belgaum {Butler), and 

 Kaipur. It has been obtained in Cachar {Imjlis) and Manipur 

 (Hume), but not in Burma nor in Ceylon. 



Habits, 4-c. The Hobby feeds much on insects, especially dragon- • 

 flies, and is often crepuscular in its movements ; it is very swift^ 

 and was formerly a favourite with Falconers for hawking small birds, 

 such as quails, larks, &c., and, in India, hoopoes and king-crows. 

 The nest has not been taken in India ; it is placed on a tree, and 

 the eggs are of the usual Falcon type, reddish, speckled darker ; 

 they are usually 3 or 4 in number, and measure about 1-7 by 1-3. 



1261. Falco severus. The Lidian Hobby. 



Falco severus, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 135 (1821) ; Delm^ 



Radcl. Ibis, 1871, p. 366 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 397 ; mime ^ 



Dav. S. F. vi, p. 2 ; Hume, Cat. no. 14 ; Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 110 ; 



Reid, S. F. x, p. 4 ; Davison, ibid. p. 333 ; Butler, ibid. p. 524 : 



Oates, B. B. ii, p. 216 ; Htwie, S. F. xi, p. 3. 

 Falco rutipedoides, Hodgs. Calc. Jour. N. H. iv, p. 283 (1844). 

 Hypotriorchis severus, Blijth, Cat. p. 15 ; Horsf. Sf M. Cat. i, p. 22 ; 



Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 34 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1866, p. 237 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. 



xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 13 ; Hume, Rough Notes, p. 87 ; Blyth, Birds 



Burm. p. 59 ; Httme ■^ Bourd. S. F. iv, p. 354. 



Dhutar S , I^huti ? , H. 



Coloration. Crown and sides of head, including cheeks to below 

 the gape, and the hind-neck black, which passes on the upper 

 back into the dark slaty grey with black shafts of the upper parts 

 generally ; quills and larger coverts black, the inner webs o£ 

 the quills with oval transverse rufous spots or bars on basal 

 two-thirds of the primaries and almost throughout the secondaries ; 

 tail slaty grey above in old birds with one black subterminal cross- 

 band, in younger birds blackish above with grey cross-bands, 

 brown beneath with paler bands, which become light rufous on 

 the inner webs of the outer rectrices ; chin, throat, and sides of 

 neck white tinged with rufous; rest of lower parts, including the 

 under wing-coverts, deep ferruginous red. 



Young birds are brownish black above, with hght rufous edges, 

 broadest on the secondaries, upper tail-coverts, and tail-feathers ; 

 a few rufous feathers scattered over the nape ; breast, abdomen, 

 and under wing-coverts deep rufous with black spots. 



Bill plumbeous ; irides deep brown ; cere, gape, and orbital 

 skin lemon-yellow ; legs and feet deep yellow {Gripps). 



Length of a female about 11-5 ; tail 475 ; wing 9-« ; tarsus 1-35 ; 

 mid-toe without claw 1-35 ; bill from gape -9 : length of a male 

 10-5: tail 4-25; wing 9. 



Distribution. The Himalayas as far west as Kiilu, at moderate 

 elevations, also Travancore and probably the Nilgiris, and Ceylon, 



