98 ACCIPITRES. 



being a little longer in proportion, and when closed extend- 

 ing beyond the tail. Its length is about a foot, its breadth 

 two feet three, and its weight less than half a pound. 



The naked parts of the hobby are yellow, the bill a blacker 

 blue than that of the peregrine, and the irides reddish orange, 

 which gives the eyes a more fiery expression an expression 

 more resembling the eyes of the jer-falcon, than the brown 

 irides of the falcon. The upper part of the bird is greyish 

 black, the feathers relieved by a higher shade at the margins, 

 and having a sort of bronzy gloss. The chin and throat are 

 white, and the white is broken on the sides of the neck. The 

 belly is dull orange, and that and the breast are, in the male 

 bird, marked with pretty large dark spots, often crescent or 

 arrow-head shaped, as is common in the markings on the 

 under sides in all the hawks. The thighs and under tail- 

 coverts are buff-orange ; the tail feathers are greyish black, 

 with bronze spots on their inner webs ; and the quills are 

 dusky black. As is the case in the peregrine, the middle toe 

 is very long and strong, and acts immediately against the 

 hinder one. 



The hobby is a summer bird of passage, and it is the only 

 British bird of prey that is so. It arrives in April, and soon 

 after begins to build its nest, which it does in lofty trees ; 

 but it sometimes avails itself of the deserted nest of some 

 resident bird that builds earlier, such as the crow or the mag- 

 pie. The eggs are from two to four, which appears to be the 

 average minimum and maximum of the whole tribe. The 

 young, which have more reddish orange or bronze in the 

 back than the old birds, are fully feathered by the begin- 

 ning of September, and in October the whole depart to 

 warmer climes. 



The hobby is a local bird with us, being confined to Eng- 

 land, and seldom reaching northward of the central heights 

 of that part of the island. It is the contrast of the peregrine 



