RED FOOTED FALCON. 71 



series of specimens was obtained and sent to Professor 

 du Bocage at Lisbon. Loche obtained it in Algeria, but 

 none of the English ornithologists who have visited that 

 country seem to have met with it. It is not common in 

 Spain and France, in the latter appearing only in some years, 

 but then in flights. 



Having thus traced the limits of the Red-footed Falcon, it 

 remains to fill up the interval. In some parts of Italy it is 

 said to be common, but only on passage ; and Dr. Salvadori 

 says that it has not bred there to his knowledge. It is most 

 numerous in the eastern parts of Europe, in Greece, Turkey, 

 Southern Russia and Hungary. In the country last named, 

 Mr. A. H. Cochrane, as he states in a note contributed to 

 the third edition of Mr. Hewitson's oological work, found it 

 breeding, often in small societies, and taking possession of 

 the nests of the Crow, Rook, or Magpie. It lays from four 

 to six eggs, some of which, obtained by that gentleman, are 

 blotched and mottled with two or three shades of light orange- 

 brown on a yellowish-white ground, and measure from 1'37 to 

 1-47 by 1-13 to 1*16 in. In Central Germany it seems only 

 to occur occasionally ; but throughout the whole extent of its 

 range, except perhaps in the Greek Archipelago, where Dr. 

 Erhard says it winters, it would appear to be an essentially mi- 

 gratory species, visiting the north in spring and summer and 

 the south at the other seasons. Its habits have been described 

 at great length by Professor von Nordmann, as observed by 

 him near Odessa, and his account of them has been translated 

 by Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser in their work just mentioned. 

 It arrives there at the beginning of April, often in astounding 

 numbers, and for some time continues in flocks, the birds 

 dispersing as the breeding season approaches, and reuniting 

 in autumn before they leave the country. While they are in 

 flocks, they indulge towards evening in very remarkable 

 flights at a great height, pursuing very nearly the same 

 course in a straight line to a certain point, and then turning 

 back sharply to repeat the evolution. After some hours, the 

 whole flock, as if at a given signal, goes suddenly to roost in 

 parties of some twenty or thirty. Their food consists chiefly 



