8 



and still very different. A clear, shrill K~i, higher and clearer than the Kli of the Kestrel, is 

 uttered by this Hawk often, and repeated several times in succession, and it strikes the observer 

 more than its flight. Its note has a distant resemblance to the call of the Lesser Spotted Wood- 

 pecker (P. minor), but is clearer and much louder. It may be heard particularly towards 

 evening. Trees which have scathed tops are frequently its resting-place ; and it is often seen 

 resting, but not for long at a time. In the fields it may be observed flying from stone to stone, or 

 hillock to hillock, peering after its prey, but it does not fly about so continuously and perseveringly 

 as its congeners ; after sundown, however, its flight is more continuous, as it then hawks after the 

 beetles which swarm at that time. 



The following details are given by Mr. Hewitson (' Eggs of British Birds,' vol. i. p. 28) : — 



" Mr. Cochrane had the good fortune to meet with this species in Hungary during the 

 breeding-season ; and by him I have been supplied with a series of eggs to draw, and the following 

 very interesting information : — 



" ' The Red-footed Falcons arrive in the country about the middle of April, and have laid 

 their eggs early in the following month. They make no nest for themselves, but, after a fight 

 with the lawful owners, take possession of those of the Crow, Book, or Magpie, altering or 

 repairing them according to their own taste.' Mr. Cochrane says that he has found their eggs in 

 a nest of Corvus corone, that they are sometimes even six in number, but most commonly four or 

 five, sometimes in isolated trees, at other times as many as six or seven pairs in one tree, in a 

 rookery, exactly as Books in England. Mr. Cochrane must have been as much surprised when 

 he found these birds breeding in company, as we were when we first discovered colonies of 

 Fieldfares in Norway." 



We have before us nine eggs of this bird from Dresser's collection, all taken in Hungary. 

 Four of these, which seem to be typical specimens, were taken at Lazlar, near Festh, and received 

 from Mr. Johann von Frivaldsky, of the Festh Museum. The ground-colour of these eggs is pale 

 reddish yellow, and they are spotted and blotched all over with small spots of dark reddish 

 brown, resembling somewhat dark varieties of the eggs of the Hobby. Two others are somewhat 

 lighter, both in ground-colour and markings, and are much more of the Hobby type. The rest 

 have the ground-colour lighter, almost dirty white in colour, and have the surface markings 

 darker and larger, thus approaching more to the eggs of the Lesser Kestrel in appearance. In 

 size they vary from 1^- inch by 1^ down to 1|-J by 1^-, and in shape are oval. 



In the Plate are depicted an old male and female and a young male. The specimens 

 described are in various collections, enumerated below. All are from Europe, with the exception 

 of spec. no. 4, which is a young male from Damaraland. 



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



E Mus. Sliarpe and Dresser. 



a. Moscow {Karl Sachse). b, c, d, e,f, g. Malta {Wright), h. Syria (Cochrane), i. Alexandria (S. Stafford 

 Allen, j. Damaraland (Andersson). 



E Mus. Salvin and Godman. 

 a, b, c. Hungary (0. Salvin), 



