82 



. 14 



In. the case of a common bird like the Hobby it were needless to recount the many figures 

 which have been given of the species in the various works ; but we cannot omit to recommend to 

 our readers two admirable pictures of this Hawk, viz. one by Wolf in the eighth part of 

 Mr. Gould's 'Birds of Great Britain' (where an adult male Hobby is depicted with a dragonfly 

 in his claws), and another spirited drawing in Brodrick's ' Falconers' Favourites ' (where the bird 

 has just missed his stoop at a Skylark and is recovering for another attempt). 



The descriptions and figures are taken from an adult pair of birds in our own collection, the 

 male being from Malta and the female from Bussia, killed at Cholmogory on the 5th of August, 

 1859. The young birds are described from specimens taken in Essex, and now in the collection 

 of Messrs. Salvin and Godman. Those figured in the second Plate are from the collections of 

 Mr. Howard Saunders and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., the young in down being the property of the 

 last-named gentleman. 



In the preparation of the above article we have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Sliarpe and Dresser. 



a. Malta (C. A. Wright) . b. Cholmogory, August 5, 1869 (Meves). c. River Volga (L. Sabanaeff). d,e. Near 

 Copenhagen {A. Benzon). f. Eastern Russia (Renard). 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 

 a, b, c. Pomerania (H. E. B.). 



E Mus. Salvin and Godman. 

 a. d. Oudekirk, Holland, May 29, 1856 (J. Baker), b, c.juv. Essex [F. G.). 



E Mus. Lord Lilford. 



a. ? . Near Oxford, May 1852 (£.). b. d juv. Shot on Fort-Neuf barracks, Corfu, April 1859 (L.). c. 6 juv. 

 Coto del Rey, Andalucia, May 1869 (L.) . 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram. 

 a. d. Farn Islands, May 13, 1859 {H. B. T.). 



E Mus. J. H. Gurney, jun. 

 a. 6 . St. Leonard's, September 23rd, 1870 {Kent), b. Norfolk {Seeley). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders, 

 a. Andalucia (H. S.). 



