THE HAWK TRIBE 1949 



groves of trees, and even single trees in the open country, whence it sallies forth, 

 sometimes circling aloft, but more generally, especially in the heat of the day, glid- 

 ing with inconceivable rapidity along some hedgerow, dam of a tank, or across 

 elds, and pouncing suddenly on some lark, sparrow, or wagtail. It very often 

 hunts in pairs, and I have now and then seen it hover like a kestrel for a few 

 seconds." In addition to the smaller birds, the turumti will attack starlings, quails, 

 and doves, while it will sometimes prey on bats. It nests from February to May, 

 apparently always in trees, laying usually four eggs, of which the color varies 

 from yellowish brown, with a few reddish specks, to nearly uniform brownish red. 

 Mr. R. Thompson, in a letter to Mr. Hume, observes that "I have trained this 

 species to be thrown from the hand at quails and partridges. The bird readily 

 learns the lesson, and makes a good bag. The quail or partridge is allowed a good 

 start, the turumti being held up so as to eye the receding bird, and then thrown in 

 the direction of the latter, with some force, shooting off at once, more like a dart 

 than anything else, at the quarry." 



The hobby (F. subbuteo} is one of the most elegant of the British 



falcons. It belongs to a group in which the thighs are perfectly uni- 

 form; their color in this species being rufous, while the throat and breast are white, 

 and the latter marked with black stripes. Above, the general color is dark slaty 

 gray, tending to black on the head. The length is eleven and one-half inches in the 

 male and thirteen and one-half in the female. The hobby is a migratory species, 

 ranging over Europe and Northern Asia, and extending into India and North 

 China, while in winter it journeys to South Africa. By no means numerous in 

 Britain, it is still not uncommon in the inland wooded and cultivated districts of the 

 outh of England. In addition to preying on small birds, it also feeds on dragon 

 ilies and beetles, and is thus a benefactor to the farmer. 



Our last representative of the typical falcons is the well-known 



merlin (F. tesalon), which, together with the smaller pigeon hawk 

 (F. columbarius) of North America, may be distinguished from other members 

 of the genus by the longitudinally streaked thighs and the nearly uniformly- 

 colored back, in which the feathers have only a median dark streak. Above, 

 the color of the merlin is a uniform clear bluish gray , with the tail marked by one 

 broad band near the end. The head is dark slaty, with broad median stripes to the 

 feathers; the forehead and sides of the face whitish, with narrow median lines; the 

 ear coverts grayish; the throat white, and the remainder of the under parts white 

 tinged with rufous, with broad median black streaks, becoming narrower on the 

 thighs. In the young bird (shown in the lower figure of our illustration) the gen- 

 eral color of the upper parts is brown with a faint tinge of gray, and the feathers 

 margined with sandy rufous; while on the under parts, save the throat, the whitish 

 feathers have very broad reddish brown streaks and black median stripes, the 

 thighs having smaller brown spots, and the lower part of the abdomen and under 

 tail coverts being only sparsely marked. It is probable that very old female merlins 

 assume a blue plumage like the males. The adult male measures ten inches, and 

 the female about two inches more. The merlin is an inhabitant of Europe and 

 Northern Asia, but extends southward into India and China. An anonymous cor- 



