74 Falconidce. 



parts to roost in the withy-beds, prior to their autumnal mi- 

 gration. In North Wilts Mr. Grant records one shot at Bromham, 

 in 1871 ; and the Rev. E. H. M. Sladen another killed at 

 Alton Barnes, about 1870 ; while Mr. Grant's list comprises 

 seventeen specimens which have come into his hands in the flesh 

 within the last twenty-four years ; and it is instructive to find 

 that the localities in which they were taken are very much the 

 same as those where their larger congeners, the Peregrines, most 

 abounded. Thus five came from Amesbury, three from Everley, 

 and single specimens from Woodborough, Netheravon, Enford, 

 Pewsey, Erlestoke, Potterne, Roundway, Seend, and Poulshot, 

 whence a nest containing three well-fledged young birds was sent 

 to the Zoological Society, London, on June 25th, 1866. 



6. RED-FOOTED FALCON (Falco wfipcs). 



Very similar to the last species both in appearance and habits 

 is the Red-footed or Red-legged Falcon, or Orange-legged Hobby, 

 as it is variously called; the principal distinguishing characteristics 

 being the red colour of the legs and feet (as its specific name im- 

 plies), and this distinction exists in both sexes and at all ages, 

 though, in almost all other respects, the male and the female, the 

 young and the adult differ widely from one another ; like its con- 

 gener described above, it prefers wooded and enclosed districts, and 

 feeds on beetles and other insects as well as small birds, and has 

 the same length of wing, and consequent rapidity and endurance 

 of flight ; it is, however, extremely rare in this country, its native 

 haunts being the steppes of Russia, and the eastern portions of the 

 Austrian dominions. Like its congener the Hobby, it may be 

 seen on the wing until late in the evening, whence it is generally 

 known by Continental Ornithologists under the name of vesper- 

 tinus, and in Malta as spagnolett ekhad or * vespertine.' It will 

 frequently alight on the ground, and will run with great ease and 

 celerity ; and in Southern and Eastern Europe, where it abounds, 

 it may sometimes be seen in large flocks. Those who are familiar 

 with it in its own home describe it as emerging towards evening 

 froin the shady forest which it loves, skimming like a swallow 



