80 



12 



the Hobby hunt after insects on the ground like the Kestrels and the Red-legged Falcon. I 

 have several times seen it seize a bat on the wing ; but it threw it away directly." 



In Finland, Dresser found the present species abundant in the central and southern parts of 

 the country, and breeding even as far north as Uleaborg, where he procured several sittings of 

 their eggs, in every instance from deserted Crows' nests, of which the Hobbies had taken posses- 

 sion after the young Crows had flown. 



It is a migrant in this country, arriving in the spring and leaving again in the autumn. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney writes : — " Hobbies appear on their arrival in England in spring to affect par- 

 ticular localities. I know an instance of a particular tree on my son's estate at Northrepps, in 

 Norfolk, on which a Hobby was shot in the spring of the successive years 1863, 1864, and 1865." 



Mr. E. Seidensacher observes: — 



" The Hobby nests in the forests near Cilli, and chooses as its nesting-place high, smooth- 

 barked firs difficult to climb. It generally takes possession of an old Crow's nest, after the eggs 

 or young have been taken away, or the latter have flown ; and this it repairs for its own use. It 

 prefers a nest to which the approach is open and above the general height of the trees ; thus it is 

 generally to be found where open woods cover the ridge of a hill. 



" They are very busy when at their nest, and, long before the female lays, both birds may 

 be seen circling high or low above the chosen place, pursuing each other, uttering their call-note 

 and settling down near or on the nest ; indeed one may always see or hear one of them at or near 

 the chosen site. It breeds very late ; and I have found on the 25th of June, and even as late as the 

 29th of July in 1862, fresh eggs. On the 30th of June, 1864, I found three fresh eggs, one of 

 which was white, with the faintest markings. Near this nest, out of which young Crows had 

 flown late in May, I saw the pair of Hobbies circling round on the 1st of June ; and still the first 

 egg was not deposited before the 28th of June. On the 21st of July, 1864, probably this same 

 pair had two eggs not far from the former nesting-place." 



Lord Lilford sends us a note on the breeding of the present bird : — 



" The nest is generally an old one of the Carrion-Crow or the Magpie, and the number of 

 eggs usually three or four ; but I once received five young ones out of one nest. I have received 

 young Hobbies five or six times within the last eight or nine years taken from the nest in South 

 Lincolnshire, where this Falcon appears to be more common now than in any other part of 

 England. Dragonflies are a very favourite prey; and a wood bordering a piece of water or 

 marshy ground in a district frequented by this bird would be the most likely locality for the nest. 

 I have known of the Hobby breeding in the immediate neighbourhood of Harrow-on-the-Hill, 

 and last year received two living birds caught close to London in bird-catchers' clap-nets." 



The following curious instance of the mating of a Hobby and a Sparrow-Hawk was con- 

 tributed to the ' Zoologist' (p. 3276), by Major Irby in 1851 :— 



" About the end of last May a male Hobby and female Sparrowhawk paired together at 

 Witchingham, in Norfolk, and enlarged a Ringdove's nest which was in a fir tree about nine or 

 ten yards from the ground. Five eggs were laid in it, one of which was taken by the game- 

 keeper, whom I had previously told to keep for me any Hawks' eggs he might take. As soon as 

 the other eggs were hatched, he shot both the Hobby and the Sparrowhawk, leaving the young 

 birds to starve. Fortunately I was able to get the Hobby preserved, although it had been hung 



