§2 ORANGE-LEGGED HOBBY. 
a fifth in the same county, in the year 1832; and a sixth, 
a male in adult plumage, in August, 1843, near Norwich— 
its stomach contained only beetles. ‘Two have been procured, 
both males, near Plymouth, as I am informed by Mr. R. A. 
Julian, of that place. The first he says flew on board a vessel 
in the Channel near the Breakwater, and was captured; the 
other was brought to Mr. Pincombe, bird preserver of that 
town, by a person who shot it at Wembury cliff, and who 
said that he saw another of the same kind in company with 
it. One has been obtained in the county of Durham. In 
Scotland it has hitherto been unknown. In Ireland one, (and 
possibly another, but it is uncertain,) was procured in the 
county of Wicklow, in the summer of 1832. It was shot 
just as it had pounced on a pigeon, of at least its own size, 
in a gentleman’s yard—both fell dead at the same discharge. 
Mr. Meyer says—‘I have more than once seen this bird, 
but have not been so fortunate as to obtain it. On one occasion, 
in the summer of 1838, I was late one evening walking in 
the unenclosed plantations belonging to Claremont, on a heath 
on which I knew they were sometimes found, when my advance 
roused from the ground a bird, whose peculiar flight instantly 
arrested my attention, and I followed it as far as the enclosure 
of the plantation into which it had entered would permit; I 
presently perceived it sitting upon the branch of a tree, in 
company with another bird of similar size, but differing in 
colour. I was near enough to observe their plumage, and no 
doubt remained upon my mind respecting them—they were 
Orange-legged Hobbies.’ 
The food of this species consists of the smaller birds, such 
as quails, and even occasionally those that are much larger, 
as the pigeon just mentioned, and the larger coleopterous and 
other insects. In pursuit of the latter it is seen skimming 
over watery places until late in the evening—a habit also of 
others of the Hawks—uttering its note from time to time. 
One of its specific names, ‘vespertinus,’ (of, or belonging to 
the evening,) is doubtless hence derived. 
Its nest is said to be built in the hollows of trees, and it 
is also stated that use is sometimes made of that of a magpie 
or other bird. 
Male; after the first moult the whole plumage of the back 
is more uniforn than in the female. The general colour is 
deep leaden blue except the legs and under tail coverts, which 
are bright yellowish red. Length, about eleven inches; bill, 
