CHAPTER XV. 



THE HABITS OF THE HOBBY. 



THE Hobby* can only be regarded as a rare and 

 very local summer- visitor to Great Britain : yet of 

 comparatively recent years it has extended its 

 breeding-range west to Shropshire and Wales ; 

 while a census would certainly show that a few 

 pairs nest annually in all our southern, midland, and 

 western counties. Indeed, I know parts of our 

 southern counties where the bird is quite common : 

 I have seen two pairs in the air together at one 

 spot, and that, too, in June. Northamptonshire is, 

 however, the probable head-quarters of the species. 

 North of Yorkshire, and in Ireland especially, it 

 is a bird seldom met with. That -it breeds within 

 our limits far more often than is suspected, there 

 is little or no doubt. The only wonder is that 

 pairs are not more often met with in wooded dis- 

 tricts. On the other hand, a dearth of Crows and 

 Magpies in many places might account for the 

 bird's absence, since the Hobby, instead of 

 building a nest for itself, prefers to lay its eggs in 

 the deserted house of some other bird and pre- 



* Falco subhuteo (L.) 



