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vou. x1.| FIELD-NOTES ON THE HOBBY. 53 
Crows’ nests, many of which were to be seen in the woods and 
hedgerows around. Adjoining this wood there was a small 
triangular spinney of about half an acre, and as we approached 
this down a hedgerow we noticed a Carrion-Crow’s nest of 
the year placed in thé fork of an elm about thirty-five feet 
up, forming the apex of the spinney, several fields away from 
the larger wood. Upon throwing up a stone, a Hobby darted 
down from the nest behind the tall hedge and disappeared 
without giving us more than a passing glimpse of her. On 
climbing the tree we found the nest contained a clutch of 
three eggs, more blotched (or rather “‘'washed”’) and less 
speckled than usual. One egg was brought down to test 
the state of incubation in water. The egg sank, but just 
turned up on end, showing that incubation had progressed 
a day or two. We then retired to the cover of a hedge on 
the opposite side of the field to watch. The bird had left 
the nest at 4 o’clock, and at 4.10 she flew past a long distance 
away, but as she turned, the white on her breast showed up 
clearly as the sun shone directly upon her. At 4.20 she 
returned and settled on an elm in the hedgerow, about a 
hundred and fifty yards from the nest, and some two hundred 
yards from our retreat, where, with glasses, a very fair view 
of her could be obtained. The long wings reaching to the 
end of the tail were clearly visible, and her head and breast 
showed up very clearly as she preened her feathers and 
occasionally altered her position. At 4.50 she glided off 
and again settled on her eggs. Allowing her a few minutes 
grace to settle down we again approached the nest, and, as 
we neared the tree she left, passing quite close by, her curved 
_ wings in flight being very apparent from some points of view, 
but not from others. Up to this time she had not uttered a 
sound, nor had the male appeared. While a descent was 
being made from the eyrie for a second time, her scream 
“ Keek-keek-keek’’? rang out once from the adjoining elm 
where she had previously stationed herself—a sharper note 
considerably than that of the Kestrel. Thence she flew off 
to the brake, and as we crossed the fields in that direction a 
Hobby glided past flying low, the blue back showing up 
conspicuously in the sunshine; this bird appeared rather 
small, and was probably the male. The nest contained no 
down: or feathers, probably because the eggs were nearly 
fresh. 
Two young Hobbys were seen around the brake during 
August, but on August 24th, the only date we were able to 
revisit this locality, we failed to see them or the old birds. 
