A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



the spot. On other occasions hobbies have 

 been observed where the swallows gathered in 

 the evening, but at no other time were so 

 many seen at once. More frequently, only one, 

 or perhaps two, have put in an appearance. 

 What always seemed remarkable was that 

 with so great a number of swallows captures 

 were very infrequent. The latest note I 

 have of the hobby waiting on the swallows is 

 dated the 7th of September, 1893, when one 

 appeared near the mill on the Avon at Harv- 

 ington, where a small flight of swallows had 

 gathered. Now, however, the latter bird has 

 become too rare to attract the hobby. Lees 

 records, on the authority of Mr. Edwards, a 

 nest of a hobby at Mathon in 1868, and the 

 latter gentleman favours me with a note re- 

 cording that a nest with young was found at 

 Eastnor in 1897. 



107. Merlin. Falco asalon, Tunstall. 



The merlin is, strictly speaking, migratory 

 with us, appearing in the autumn, winter, or 

 very early spring. Years ago when the 

 swallow was abundant the merlin as well 

 as the hobby frequented the roosting places 

 of that bird in the osier and reed beds. But 

 the merlin did so very occasionally, being 

 indeed but rarely seen so early in the autumn. 

 November is the month when we most fre- 

 quently see the merlin, about the time when 

 the redwings make their appearance. Larks 

 appear to be a favourite food of this little 

 falcon, especially on the slopes of the hills. 



108. Red-footed Falcon. Falco vespertinus, 



Linn. 

 A bird of this species, which from its uni- 

 formly dark colour was certainly an adult 

 male, was seen and closely watched for some 

 time by Mr. W. H. Baylies while busily 

 engaged in hawking for cockchafFers in some 

 large elms near his house in June, 1870. As 

 Mr. Baylies is intimately acquainted with the 

 hobby and the merlin, he can certainly assert 

 that the bird he saw was not either of those 

 birds, but, indeed, there can be no doubt 

 from the colour as to the species. 



109. Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus, Linn. 



A common and resident bird, locally known 

 as the mouse-hawk, nesting generally in an 

 old nest of a crow or magpie. During winter 

 the kestrel usually retires to the same places 

 to roost for some time, which is very often 

 on some small branch growing out on the 

 sheltered side of a large tree, quite close to 

 the bole, beneath which the castings may be 

 found in great quantity. They become dis- 

 integrated by the rains of winter, and all are 



160 



then seen to be made up of the bones and 

 fur of small mammals, with now and then 

 the bones and feathers of a small bird, and 

 the elytra of beetles. 



no. Osprey. Pandlon ha Hai'tus {h\nn.). 



According to Hastings, the osprey was, 

 when he wrote, in 1834, one of the birds 

 which were known to ' but very rarely occur,' 

 and in a note he records it as ' once seen fly- 

 ing over the River Teme.' I am unable to 

 add anything to its history as a Worcester- 

 shire bird, but I have a specimen which was 

 shot in January, 1864, in the Avon, between 

 the counties of Warwick and Gloucester, and 

 only a short distance from the point where 

 the stream comes into Worcestershire. I 

 have the record of several which have been 

 taken in the neighbouring county of Warwick. 



111. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carho (Linn.). 

 Hastings says : ' The cormorant, Phalacro- 

 corax carho, in time of floods often visits the 

 interior of the country.' I can endorse that 

 statement. It is also sometimes driven inland 

 by storms and high winds ; all the specimens 

 which I have seen have been in immature or 

 in winter plumage. A few years ago one 

 was found after a storm in the head of a 

 pollard withy tree by the side of the Avon. 



112. Shag or Green Cormorant. Phalacro- 



corax graculus (Linn.). 

 Like the last species, and indeed like so 

 many other sea birds, this is now usually a 

 a storm-scattered wanderer, and seldom seen 

 unless driven by wind and storm out of its 

 proper habitats, or during a succession of 

 floods ; but specimens are not very infre- 

 quently found in a state of exhaustion. 



113. Gannet or Solan Goose. Sula bassana 



(Linn.). 



' This singular straggler was met with 

 flying over an arable field at Alfrick, in this 

 county, in the winter of 1833, and is now in 

 our museum ' [Hastings, p. 70). A specimen 

 in the Worcester Museum, which is in adult 

 plumage, was taken at Norton, and an im- 

 mature one in the same collection at Cleve- 

 load-on-the-Severn, in the county of Wor- 

 cester. On several occasions gannets have 

 been found in a state of exhaustion in the 

 neighbouring counties of Oxford, Gloucester 

 and Warwick. Lundy Island is their nearest 

 residence. 



A tropic bird, Phteton aethereus, it is said 

 was picked up dead near Malvern in the 

 fifties. It is believed on the Herefordshire 

 side of the hill at Cradley. 



