264 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



when bright sunlight is playing upon it, whilst the 

 under-parts, though similarly streaked with black, 

 have the appearance of soiled ermine, which, when 

 burnished by. a powerful sun, assumes a pinkish 

 tinge. Birds of the year lack the reddish-brown 

 plumes on the thighs and beneath the tail. 



The Hobby is no builder of even the meanest 

 calibre : never by any chance in Britain at any 

 rate does it construct a home for itself. Where it 

 can get it, nothing pleases it better than a Crow's 

 deserted abode, or a Magpie's. Failing these 

 luxurious mansions, it is quite content with the 

 rougher built nest of Heron, Rook, or Sparrow - 

 Hawk. Beyond furrowing about in the lining 

 and in the case of a Magpie's nest removing the 

 fibrous roots no further alterations are effected. 

 The eggs merely repose in a shallow scrape about 

 eight inches across. Now and then, of course, a 

 ' ' pellet ' ' or two are found in the ' ' nest, ' ' as likewise 

 a few small feathers and some bits of down from the 

 old Hobbies, but until the young appear not many 

 relics of the chase accumulate therein, though at 

 the base of adjacent trees may sometimes be found 

 many such indications, as well as innumerable 

 droppings. The same haunt and often the same 

 nest is used yearly. 



It is a strange fact that in our islands the Hobby 

 seldom lays more than three eggs (I have known 

 of several " fours "), and especially strange when 

 one remembers how our other small hawks 



