HOBBY. 31 



FALCO SUBBUTEO. 

 HOBBY. 



(PLATE 4.) 



Accipiter dendro-falco, Briss. Orn. i. p. 375 (1760). 



Falco subbuteo, Linn. Syst. Xat. i. p. 127 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum 



Temminck, Xaumann, Gould, Schlegel, (Jerdon), (Hume), Sharpe, &c. 

 Falco barletta, Daiid. Traite, ii. p. 129 (1800). 

 Hypotriorchis subbuteo (Linn.), Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 976. 

 Dendrofalco subbuteo (Linn.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 3 (1840). 



The Hobby has become a rare and local bird in England. It was 

 formerly a regular summer visitor; but the number of occurrences during 

 winter suggests that some of the Scandinavian birds do not migrate further 

 south. In the northern and western counties it is much rarer; but in 

 Scotland it is a regular though local visitor, and is said occasionally to 

 breed in Orkney and to pass the Shetlands on migration. Only two 

 instances of its occurrence in Ireland are known. 



Its principal breeding-grounds are the forest districts of the north of 

 France, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, South Scandinavia, and 

 Russia south of lat. 65. South of the Baltic a few, probably migrants 

 from the north, are seen in winter. In Spain, the south of France, Switzer- 

 land, Italy, Turkey and Greece, Asia Minor and Palestine it is principally 

 known on the spring and autumn migrations ; but in all these countries a 

 few remain to breed and a few stop the winter. It passes through North 

 Africa and the Canaries on migration, and winters in South Africa as far 

 as the Cape ; but Heuglin obtained one example in winter in Egypt. East- 

 wards it breeds in Northern Persia, Turkestan, and the whole of Siberia 

 south of lat. 64. It passes through Cashmere, Mongolia, North China, 

 and Japan on migration, and winters in Northern India and Southern 

 China. There are two tropical forms of the Hobby which appear to have 

 become completely differentiated and to be now good species : F. cuvieri 

 from South Africa, which may always be distinguished by its smaller size 

 and deep-chestnut breast ; and F. severus from India, the Burma penin- 

 sula, and the Malay archipelago, a species very nearly allied to the last, 

 with the same chestnut breast, but unspotted. 



The Hobby is a miniature Peregrine, not only in appearance but also 

 in his character. Swift as the Merlin is, the Hobby is still swifter; and 

 his wonderful power of flight makes him bold and courageous. So eager 

 is he in the pursuit of his game, that in the ardour of the chase he has 

 been known to dart through an open window of a carriage on the road, 

 and to enter a room in the attempt to seize a caged bird. His courage, 



