160 HAWKS AND HAWK-LIKE BIRDS. 



stream or beside hedgerows in search of small birds, 

 and is little given to soaring flights like some of its 

 kind. 



HOBBY — 12-14 inches ; dark slaty-Wue above ; heavy black 

 moustaches ; under parts ruddy-white, witli heavy black 

 spots ; thighs and under tail-coverts clear rust-colour ; 

 wings very long and sharply pointed. A summer visitor 

 to south-eastern England, feeding principally on large 

 insects captured on the wing. 



KESTREL — 14-15^ inches ; a stationary hoverer over open 

 lands. 



SPARROW-HAWK — 13-15i inches; under parts barred 

 transversely ; wings short and blunt ; a lurker by tlie 

 woodside for small birds. 



HOBBY.— Form, like Peregrine Falcon (plate 74). 

 Male : 1 2 inches. Upper parts and tail dark slaty- 

 gray, lighter on lower back ; heavy black moustaches ; 

 throat, sides of neck, and breast white, the last with 

 heavy, longitudinal, dark streaks ; thigh-feathers and 

 under tail-coverts bright rust-colour ; under sides of 

 wings whitish, barred with black ; under sides of tail- 

 feathers gray, barred transversely. Female: similar, 

 but duller, and 14 inches. Summer migrant. 



Eggs. — 3 - 5, buffy- white, more or less densely 

 mottled with reddish - brown ; 1-6 x 1"25 inch 

 (plate 128). 



Nest. — An old nest of a Crow, Magpie, or Wood- 

 Pigeon, with some addition by the Hobby, is used. 



Distribution. — In England chiefly in the south- 

 efist, sparsely in tlie Midlands, and increasingly rare 

 northwards ; little observed in Coi'iiwall, ^\'alos, or 



