on the Finding of a Treasure.



271



be less uncommon than many suppose. At any rate it seems to

favour the neighbourhood of London, for I have noticed it in Hert¬

fordshire, in Kent, and even in meadows adjoining Barnes Common

of all places, and not so very many years ago either. Probably if

people could learn to distinguish its flight and call, it would be more

often recognised ; but what hope is there when so many still tell us

that the flight of the cuckoo is like that of a hawk ( which hawk ?

no two of our small hawks fly alike, and that it is difficult to dis¬

tinguish a hawk from a cuckoo.


The wild Hobby on the wing is a beautiful sight ; its powers

of flight are marvellous. On the rare occasions that I have seen a

wild Peregrine, so far as flight is concerned, it seemed to be nowhere

compared with the Hobby. The latter is not a large bird, but its

wings are long and pointed, and, when at rest, extend beyond the

tip of the tail. In outward appearance, it is of the Peregrine type

and quite different from Kestrel, Merlin, or Sparrow-Hawk. The

sexes are much alike, but the female is the larger of the two.


Speaking from memory, for I have no book on the subject to

refer to, in olden days the Hobby was used for flying at larks and

other small birds, and (I am sure I have heard or read somewhere)

is the only falcon that can take a climbing (soaring) Snipe. Per¬

sonally I never succeeded in doing anything with my Hobbies—but

then they were fat, lazy, overfed pets. The would-be falconer must

take the matter seriously, and ever have at the back of his mind

the Arabic proverb,—“Keep your cat hungry and she will catch the

rat.” Few hawks will give real sport except when sharp-set.


I have been told, though I am unable to confirm the state¬

ment from my own observations, that, in the wild state, the Hobby

feeds largely on insects as well as on small birds. I have never seen

it attempt to catch either mouse or vole.


Some 26-7 years ago, I kept hawks, &c., here in London, the

collection including a Hobby. In the aviary, although as tame as a

kitten, she was somewhat uninteresting. It is the fashion to assert,

and to assert dogmatically, that birds of prey, in confinement, do as

well in a small as in a large place, or something to that effect. But

on this point I differ absolutely : the mistake lies in not providing

them with a sufficiently large place. My aviary was large euough



