FALCONID&, 353 
THE RED-FOOTED FALCON. 
FaLco vESPERT{Nus, Linnzus. 
This small species (sometimes misnamed the Orange-legged 
Hobby, though it is more nearly akin to the Kestrel) is merely a 
summer-visitor to Europe, in the eastern portions of which it has 
an extensive northerly range, though in the west its appearance is 
irregular. Its appearance in the British Islands was first noticed in 
Yorkshire in April and in Norfolk in May of 1830, and subsequently 
about thirty specimens have been obtained. Most of these have 
been taken in the eastern and southern counties, but examples have 
been recorded from Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Denbighshire, Salop 
and Lancashire ; while Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland have 
been visited. In Scotland, one was shot in Aberdeenshire in May 
1866, and another in May 1897, one in Fifeshire in September 1880, 
and one near Jedburgh in June 1888. In Ireland, a bird now in the 
Dublin Museum, was taken in co. Wicklow during the summer of 
1832. Most of the authenticated occurrences have been in spring 
or summer, with a few in autumn, and exceptional instances in the 
winter months. 
The Red-footed Falcon seldom visits Heligoland. It has been 
EE 
