HOBBY AND TURTLE DOVE. 115 



still and watch the sport, but a conviction that I 

 should lose sight of both birds among the trees, 

 and a recollection that such a specimen would 

 form a valuable addition to my cabinet, altered 

 my plans in a moment, and I had just time to 

 bring him down with a snap-shot as he turned 

 suddenly after the dove, which had already disap- 

 peared behind an oak. However, if the country 

 had been more open, so as to have admitted of a 

 view of the chase, I might perhaps have allowed 

 him to pursue his quarry unmolested. 



In the eastern division of the county the hobby 

 has been killed near Battle, Pevensey and Lewes; 

 it has also occurred more frequently in various 

 parts of the weald, and has been met with 

 occasionally on the south side of the Downs. 

 There is a specimen in the Chichester museum 

 which was shot at Halnaker in September, 1836, 

 and I have observed it near the great beech 

 woods on the higher Downs during the autumn : 

 indeed it is at this season that the hobby has 

 been generally killed. They then evidently visit 

 this southern county in common with so many of 

 our summer visitors who intend to pass the winter 

 months in a more genial climate. 



