34 birds of india. 



The Hobby. 



Descr. — Young bird, dark brown above, the feathers edged with 

 ferruginous ; cheek stripe darker ; beneath whitish, with a rusty 

 tinge, and all the feathers with broad blackish brown spots or 

 streaks ; the lower abdomen, thigh coverts, and under tail coverts 

 ferruginous, with a few brown streaks. 



Adult, blackish slaty above, rusty white beneath; throat and 

 neck unspotted; breast and abdomen with dark brown streaks, 

 narrow on the centre of the abdomen, wider on the flanks ; thigh 

 coverts and under tail coverts pure ferruginous ; tail dark slaty, 

 with dark bands ; frontal line and narrow stripe over the eye pale 

 rusty Avhitish ; cheek stripe black, distinctly separated from the dark 

 cheeks and ear coverts ; quills barred internally with light rufous ; 

 cere and legs greenish yellow. 



Length of a female 12^ inches; wing lOf ; tail 5^: the wing 

 nearly reaches to the end of the tail. A male measured lOf 

 inches; wing 9|; tail 5^. 



The Hobby is a winter visitant to India, and is not very com- 

 mon, though occasionally killed in different parts of the country. 

 I have killed it near Jalna, and it has been taken at Calcutta and 

 in various parts of the Himalayas. Its prey is small birds, larks, 

 &c, and also not unfrequently insects. The one I shot near Jalna 

 had its stomach crammed with dragon flies, which I had seen it 

 hawking over a tank just after sunset. It is stated occasionally to 

 be seen in flocks, and to fly about at dusk. It does not breed in this 

 country. In Europe it builds on trees, occasionally taking posses- 

 sion of an old crow's nest. It used to be trained to hawk quails and 

 larks in Europe. I believe it to be the JRegi of Indian Falconers. 



14. Hypotriorchis severus, Horsf. 



Falco, apud HoEsr., L. T. XIII. — Falco Aldrovandi, Temm., 

 P. C, 128— F. rufipedoides, Hodgs. C. J. N. H., IV. 284— Blyth, 

 Cat. No. 67— Horsf., Cat. 24.—Dhuii, H. (the female); Dhuter 

 (the male). 



The Indian Hobby. 



, Descr. — Young bird, dusky blackish, with a grey tinge ; lores, 

 cheeks, and ear coverts nearly black, confluent with the cheek stripe; 



