62 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



had found, and at last came to the definite conclusion that they were Hobby's 

 eggs. The question of the possibility of their being Kestrel's eggs was raised, 

 I believe, but the idea was laid on one side as being absurd. 



In the first place there were only three eggs, and Kestrels usually lay five 

 to six. Then they were laid in an old magpie's nest ; and Hobbies, I learnt, 

 love to take over such a home ; also the first of the two birds which I had seen 

 was distinctly blue and the stuffed Kestrel in the second-hand bookshop 

 was a reddish colour, much dotted with black spots and bars. And lastly, 

 had I not remarked on the length of the hawk's wings ? And I learnt that the 

 Hobby is the longest winged of all our hawks. 



What I did not then know is, that the Kestrel also sometimes lays only 

 three eggs (and even if she is going to lay six there must be a time at which 

 the nest only contains three !) ; that the Kestrel also frequently appropriates 

 a disused magpie's nest ; that the mature male Kestrel is of an entirely different 

 colour from the female, and has a slaty-blue tail ; and that the length of the 

 Hobby's wings is much greater than those of the hawk I had seen leave the 

 dead tree-top. In addition I now know that the Hobby is a migratory bird, 

 and so late a nester that one cannot expect to find its eggs before the middle 

 of June. 



The Hobby is, in fact, a very rare bird, although, like the Buzzard and 

 the Merlin, it returns annually to its breeding-places, which are, in the instances 

 with which I am acquainted, in isolated clumps of trees in extremely open 

 country. 



There is no mistaking a Hobby by those who are familiar with the various 

 small British hawks, even if it be flying at a great height ; for the extraordinary 

 length of its wings lends to it something of the appearance of a swift. When 

 it is at rest, it is an even easier matter to identify it for once more the length 

 of its wings strikes one immediately they really seem almost out of propor- 

 tion ! whilst the black crown of the head, the pure white cheeks, the greyish 

 black of the back, and the almost orange patch on the thighs, distinguish it at 

 once from any other British hawk. We are told that, in the days when Fal- 

 conry was so popular a sport, Hobbies were very highly esteemed as birds of 

 great wing power, courage, and tractability, and that they were trained to 

 take such large fowl as pigeons and partridges ; but in these modern times, 

 perhaps owing to the fact that the art of training them is a lost one, none of 

 the modern Falconers seem to have been able to do the least good with them. 

 It is doubtful in fact whether they enjoy a better reputation than the poor 

 Buzzard ! In any case, they are usually termed dull, spiritless, cowardly, 

 and so on. It is possible that this apparent laziness on the part of the Hobby 

 is due to the fact that in the wild state it consumes, like the Kestrel, a quantity 

 of winged insects, May bugs, dragon-flies, and the like ; and the fact that it 

 spends a considerable part of its time soaring at vast heights, from which 



