THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 173 



The Hobby breeds throughout the whole of central Europe as 

 far north as southern Scandinavia, and in the same latitudes 

 throughout Asia. Its numbers, however, are said to decline con- 

 siderably towards the east. In Spain only scattered examples are 

 said to nest. 



7. Eicon or a Falcon [LEONORAS FALKE]. 

 FALCO ELEONORAE, Gene\ 



Falco concolor. Graufalk. V. d. Miihle, Ornith. Griechenlands, 14. 



Eleanoran Falcon. Dresser, vi. 103. 



Faucon EUonore. Temininck, Manuel, iv. 593. 



The sole authority for the admission of this species into the list 

 of the birds of Heligoland is a statement of Glaus Aeuckens, ac- 

 cording to which, on the 26th of May 1879, the same day on which 

 he shot Pallas' Short-toed Lark (Alauda pispoletta), a Falcon flew 

 close past him, which in its whole bearing resembled a Hobby, but 

 was somewhat larger than the latter, and of a uniform slate-grey 

 colour he had, in fact, never seen one like it before. On my sug- 

 gesting that it might have perhaps been Falco rufipes, he assured 

 me most emphatically that the bird in question had no red feathers 

 on the tibiae, nor red under-tail-coverts, and certainly was not rufipes, 

 which was, moreover, smaller, had a different manner of flight, and 

 was perfectly well known to him. On Aeuckens afterwards seeing an 

 example of F. eleonorae, which I had procured, in my collection, he 

 at once said that it was a bird of this kind which he had seen on the 

 date before named. Knowing how thoroughly reliable all Aeuckens's 

 observations are, I have no longer any doubt in the matter. 



The occurrence of F. eleonorae is further supported by the 

 simultaneous occurrence with this bird of another species, also a 

 native of the far South-East, to wit, the small Lark above named, 

 i.e. Al. pispoletta. Similar cases, indeed, have occurred pretty 

 frequently on the island. 



8. The Merlin [ZWERGFALK]. 

 FALCO AESALON, Linn. 1 



Heligolandish : Liitj-falk = The Little Falcon. 



Falco aesalon. Naumann, i. 303. 



Merlin. Dresser, vi. 83. 



Faucon emerillon. Temininck, Manuel, L 27, iii. 13. 



Of all the Falcons this small and dexterous robber visits Heligo- 

 land in greatest numbers, and its migration extends over a very 



1 Falco cesalon, Tunstall. 



