75 



Messrs. Elwes and Buckley write : — 



"A very common summer visitor to Turkey, where it arrives about the second week of April, 

 and frequents the groves of trees which are found here and there in the open country." 



Mr. C. Farman, in his paper on the Birds of Prey of Central Bulgaria, says, "This elegant 

 little bird, excepting only the Kestrel, is undoubtedly the commonest of all the Hawks in 

 Central Bulgaria. It is to be met with in all parts of the country, but it appears to affect par- 

 ticularly the barren moors to the eastward of Shumla. In the autumn they seem to be more 

 plentiful than at any other time of the year. The Quail, to which they appear to be particularly 

 partial, may perhaps attract them to this locality at this particular season of the year." 



Messrs. Alleon and Vian write : — 



"Perhaps the commonest of its congeners during migrations, but particularly in the autumn, 

 when it arrives with the Quails. It passes almost without interruption from about the 10th of 

 September to the 20th October. We have generally found in the stomach remains of Quails 

 and small birds, sometimes grasshoppers and large insects ; but, apparently, those that feed on 

 insects are generally thin, and are more often young birds in the rear of the great stream of 

 migration ." 



Dr. Eversmann writes : — 



"Very common in the Vorgebirge and neighbouring steppes of the Ural, as also of 

 the Altai." 



Dr. Radde found it in Eastern Siberia, and states that an old male procured there differs 

 only from the European bird in having a light yellowish tinge on the under parts. 



Dybowski and Parrex record it from Darasnn, in Dauria, stating that it is " rarer than the 

 Kestrel in summer, and leaves in the winter." Dr. Maack has met with it at Irkutsk ; and 

 Middendorff says that it " passed on migration the southern coast of the Sea of Ochotsk on the 

 13th of September." Dr. von Schrenk procured it on the Lower Amoor. 



Mr. Swinhoe records it in his list of the Birds of China as having been found at Tientsin, 

 Hankow (Central China), Foochow, and Amoy. Pere David says it passes Peking but very 

 rarely, as he has only obtained one specimen. 



The exact residence of the Hobby in winter is as yet unknown ; but at this season it visits 

 India and Southern Africa, though in no such profusion as to lead us to suppose that these countries 

 the winter home of the vast hordes of this Falcon which migrate southward in the autumn. 



Dr. Jerdon says : — 



" The Hobby is a winter visitant to India, and is not very common, though occasionally 

 killed in various parts of the country. I have shot it near Jalna; and it has been taken at 

 Calcutta and in various parts of the Himalayas. Its prey is small birds, Larks, &c, and not 

 unfrequently insects. The one I shot near Jalna had its stomach crammed with Dragonfhes, 

 which I had seen it hawking over a tank just after sunset. It is stated occasionally to be seen 

 in flocks, and to fly about at dusk. It does not breed in this country. It used to be trained to 

 hawk Quails and Larks in Europe. I believe it to be the Rege of Indian falconers." 



Mr. Hume, in his ' Rough Notes,' observes : — 



" Of the breeding-habits of this species in India, I, as yet, know nothing. Although common 

 enough in some parts of the Himalayahs, it is a rare visitant (and then only in the cold season) 



