471 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE HOBBY IN IRELAND. 
By tor Epiror. 
Wukn the late Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, published his ‘ Natural 
History of Ireland,” now more than five and twenty years ago, he 
evidently had some doubt as to the propriety of including the 
Hobby, Fulco subbuleo, amongst the birds of his own country, 
and, with that accuracy which always characterized him, and which 
has rendered his work even to the present day the most reliable 
text-book on Irish Ornithology, he contented himself with the 
statement that it “has once at least been obtained in Ireland.” 
The specimen referred to was shot, as he informs us, at Carrig- 
rohan, near Cork, in the summer of 1822 (?), and a coloured 
drawing made at the time subsequently showed that the species 
had been correctly identified. - 
On referring to Prof. Newton’s edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ 
now in course of publication, I find that only one other Irish speci- 
men is noticed (vol.i. p. 66), namely, one in the Museum of the 
Royal Dublin Society, which was shot in June, 1867, in the county 
of Tipperary. As lam enabled to give the particulars of the capture 
of this specimen, and have notes on the occurrence in Ireland of 
three or four others, I think it may be as well to record them. 
The last-mentioned bird was shot on the 6th June, 1867, while 
hawking for flies over the river at Moulfield, Clonmell, the seat of 
Mr. John Bagwell. Mr. H. B. Murray, of Heywood, Clonmell, 
who noticed the fact in ‘The Field’ of June 15th, 1867, and 
subsequently in ‘The Field’ of July 10th, 1869, remarked that 
the stomach of this bird contained nothing but the remains of 
small beetles and large flies—a circumstance fully confirmatory 
of what is known respecting the food and habits of this species. 
Five years previously—namely, in May, 1862— a female Hobby 
was shot by the late Mr. Hall Dare’s gamekeeper at Newtown Barry, 
County Wexford, and a male bird which was in company with it 
escaped. The pair had been observed to frequent a small fir wood 
in the neighbourhood, and in all probability would have nested 
there had they been allowed to remain undisturbed. This circum- 
stance, which had been briefly mentioned in ‘The Field’ of the 
20th December, 1862, was noticed in more detail by the late 
Edward Newman in ‘ The Field’ of the 2Ist February, 1863. 
