176 FALCONIFORMES CHAP. 
wandered to England, and ranges from the Pyrenees, Styria, and 
the Orenburg district to Bokhara and North Africa. It some- 
times occurs further north, and in winter reaches Cape Colony ; 
the Indian and Chinese race, distinguished as 7”. pekinensis, having 
strayed to the Transvaal. 7. sparverius, the “Sparrow-Hawk ” of 
America from the Great Slave Lake to Colombia, which occasion- 
ally feeds on snakes, and breeds in Woodpeckers’ holes, has two 
sub-species, 7. cinnamominus of Central and South America and 
T. caribbaearum of the Antilles. 7. dominicensis (sparverioides) 
inhabits Cuba and St. Domingo, and occurs in Florida; 7". isabel- 
linus ranges from Georgia to northern South America; 7” alopez: 
from Nubia to Bogos-Land; 7. rwpicolus and the more northern 
T. rupicoloides occupy South Africa; Z. gracilis the Seychelles ; 
T. punctatus Mauritius; 7. newtoni Madagascar; 7. moluccensis 
the Moluccas and the Sunda Islands; 7”. cenchroides Australia and 
Tasmania. It is remarkable that no Kestrel inhabits Jamaica or 
Bourbon, though Cuba and Mauritius are respectively so near them. 
Erythropus vespertinus, the Red-footed Falcon, which wanders 
to Britain, but breeds from Eastern Europe and Algeria to Kras- 
nolarsk, where it meets the Eastern Asiatic #. amurensis, is 
lead-grey in the male, with browner tail, chestnut thighs and 
vent region; the female being barred with blackish above, and 
having the head, nape, and under surface rufous. The cere, orbits, 
and feet are red. Both forms migrate to South Africa, keeping 
more to the west and east respectively ; the latter, which crosses 
India and Burma, being distinguished in the male by white under 
wing-coverts, and in the female by the absence of rufous on the 
head, neck, and brown-spotted breast. In general habits like 
Kestrels, these birds are more gregarious, and breed in company. 
HHypotriorchis subbuteo, the Hobby, nests sporadically in Eng- 
land, and extends thence to North Africa and Japan, occurring 
in the Canaries and migrating to South Africa, North India, and 
China. Both sexes are slate-coloured, having buff lower parts 
with black streaks, reddish vent, white throat and sides of the 
neck, and a black stripe down the latter. This bold and dashing 
little Falcon, easily recognisable by the extremely long wings, 
which give it a Swift-like appearance, is usually seen poised aloft, 
or rapidly pursuing the insects and birds which form its food. 
The note is shrill; the three to five eggs resemble closely 
freckled pinkish specimens of those of the Kestrel, and are 
