96 



Gatke includes the Red-legged Falcon in the avifauna of Heligoland. In Holland and the 

 Netherlands it has not yet been noticed ; but in Lorraine M. Godron mentions one specimen 

 having been killed near Nancy. 



Degland and Gerbe state that it is rare in France, where, however, it has been said to have 

 bred. It is, however, certainly found during migration in the Department of Isere, and in the 

 southern departments. M. Bouteille (' Ornithologie du Dauphine,' t. i. p. 75) says that ten or 

 twelve of these birds were seen early in May 1824 for two days flying above the water in the 

 marshes on the plain of Tullius. They were not wild, and were nearly all killed. Since then 

 others have been seen in the same locality; and in 1842 another batch passed. It is stated that 

 there was a large migration of these birds in Provence during the month of November 1821. 



Bailly notices it as rare in Savoy, but more abundant in Switzerland. In Spain, Lord Lilford 

 saw it once in Andalucia, but does not think it is a common bird in any part of the country. 

 This is also Mr. Howard Saunders's opinion ; and he has written to inform us that he has never 

 met with it himself in Spain, but that it is an occasional visitant to that country, principally to 

 the east coast, but years often elapse without its occurrence. 



Salvadori considers it to be a spring bird of passage in Italy, and sends us the accompanying 

 note : — 



" I can add very little to the excellent description given by Savi (Orn. Tosc. vol. i. p. 50). 

 This bird arrives here in May, and then for the space of twenty days is often seen on low marshy 

 ground, but not in every place indiscriminately. It is very common in the Campagna Romana ; 

 and in the Tuscan Maremma I have often seen it in the Marche, near the Adriatic shore. In 

 the autumn it is not to be found in Italy, except in the islands of Sicily and Malta (Doderlein & 

 Wright). I used to catch this Falcon very easily, on a damp plain near Umbria, by fixing a 

 grasshopper on the ground and covering it with limed twigs, when the bird would swoop either 

 in its flight or from a neighbouring tree down on the insect, and remain caught on the twigs. 

 They thrive well in confinement, and I used to feed them on raw ox-heart. To my knowledge 

 this bird has never bred in Italy." 



In Styria, Seidensacher states, " It appears with us about the middle of May, on migration, 

 in larger or smaller numbers. Its passage through Styria is annual and regular, of which I have 

 convinced myself in several localities, as, for instance, at Peltan, where it appears every spring. 

 I have not had an opportunity of observing it in the autumn, but it has been shot also at this 

 season of the year." 



Mr. Cochrane found it breeding in Hungary ; and Dresser has seen plenty of specimens in 

 the Pesth Museum, near which town he was informed it bred numerously. Messrs Elwes and 

 Buckley (Ibis, 1870, p. 75) state that these birds were "first noticed on the 25th of April, when 

 they appeared in considerable numbers near Sindal, in Bulgaria, and frequented ploughed fields, 

 where they hawked about for flies and insects. We cannot say whether they breed in this part 

 of the country ; but Mr. Farman does not mention the fact in his list." As regards their occur- 

 rence in Turkey, Mr. Robson writes to us as follows : — 



" These birds are pretty common during the spring and autumn migrations in Asia Minor 

 and south-eastern Europe. They generally arrive in small flocks, and stay a short time in various 

 localities; stragglers constantly arrive and depart onwards two or three weeks after the main 



