HOBBY. 7 
HOBBY. 
Fatco sussutzo, Linn. 
Pl. IIL, fig. 1. 
Geogr. distr.—Palearctic Region generally: not common in the 
British Isles, owing to the incessant war waged with it by keepers 
and others. 
Food.—Insects, small birds, pigeons, &c., and young of larger birds. 
Nest.—An old Crow’s, Magpie’s, or Dove’s nest repaired. 
Posttion of nest.—In isolated groves of tall fir-trees, upon projecting 
ledges of rocks, the ridge of a hill, &e.; usually in open woods or more 
or less overhung with brush. 
Number of eggs.—2-5; generally 4. 
Time of nidification—V-V1; June. 
According to Hewitson this species is most common in 
Yorkshire ;* it is a bold and beautiful bird, and though it 
undoubtedly does occasionally destroy a partridge, it usually 
flies at smaller game, such as sky larks or beetles, but most 
frequently the former. 
The Hobby has been trained to fly at Larks, Quails, and 
Snipes, but it is said to be not strong enough to be efficient 
in the field; it arrives in this country in April, and generally 
leaves again in October. 
In its appearance and habits the Hobby resembles the 
Peregrine Falcon, excepting that it is much smaller; its 
flight is extremely rapid, cutting the air like that of a 
Swallow, upon which bird it appears, from a paragraph in 
Mr. Seebohm’s ‘ History of British Birds,’ it occasionally 
reys. 
7 This species, now so rare in our country, has been met 
with in China, India, Persia, Palestine, the Blue Nile, the 
Cape, Morocco, and perhaps Algeria. 
* In the revised edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ however, we 
read that ‘“‘In Somerset, Mr. Cecil Smith says that it is a very rare bird. 
It does not seem to be much commoner in Dorset or Wilts; and thence 
Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire seem to form the 
north-western frontier of the district in which it can be said usually to 
breed, though instances are known of its having done so in Notting- 
hamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire.” 
