10 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 



6. HOBBY. Falco subbuteo, Linnaeus. French, " Le 

 Hobereau." The Hobby can only be considered as a 

 rather rare occasional visitant, iust touching the 

 Islands on its southern migration in the autumn, 

 and late in the autumn, for Mr. MacCulloch informs 

 me that a Hobby was killed in the Islands, pro- 

 bably Guernsey, in November, 1873, and Mr. 

 Couch, writing to me on the 10th of November, 

 told me he had had a Hobby brought to him on the 

 8th of the same month. Both of these occurrences 

 seem rather late, but probably the Hobby only 

 touches the Islands for a very short time on passage, 

 and quite towards the end of the migratory period. 

 I do not know of any instance of the Hobby having 

 occurred in the Islands on its northern migration 

 in the spring, or of its remaining to breed. 



It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only 

 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no 

 specimen in the Museum. 



7. MERLIN. Falco cesalon* Bris., 1766. French, 

 " Faucon Emerillon." The pretty little Merlin is a 

 much more common autumnal visitant to the 

 Islands than the Hobby, but, like the Peregrine, the 

 majority of instances are young birds of the year 

 which visit the Islands on their autumnal migration. 

 When I was in Guernsey in November, 1875, two 



* Falco cesalon, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. Falco cesalon, 

 Gmelin, Y., 1788. 



