HOBBY. 9 



PIOBBY. 



Falco subbuteo. 



A SUMMER visitantj making its appearance iti April and 

 leaving the country^ on migration, in the autumn, a few 

 occasionally remaining rather late. I am not aware of its 

 having been found breeding in Sussex, or of any very young 

 birds having been obtained. It feeds on beetles and dragon- 

 flies, as well as on small birds &c. It is said to be partial 

 to the deserted nest of a Carrion-Crow as a site for rearing 

 its young. 



I have but few references respecting this species in my 

 own notes. One was seen on the shore near Worthing, on 

 the 13th of May, 1841, and another, an immature bird, was 

 shot at Poynings on August 15th of the same year. I have 

 also noted that a mature male was shot at Cowfold while 

 attempting to take a young tame Pigeon, which he had struck, 

 close to a farmhouse, on April 35th, 1879. In the autumn, 

 about 1880, a Hobby was picked up in the garden of the 

 vicarage at Cowfold, and was kindly sent to me by the vicar. 

 This, which is a mature male, had apparently been killed by 

 flying against one of the windows of the house. A few years 

 since an adult bird was sent from Pagham to my friend 

 Mr. Harting, while he was on a visit to me at Cowfold. 



The late Mr. Knox, in his O. E. (pp. 113 to 115), men- 

 tions the courage and address of one of these birds in pur- 

 suit of a wounded Partridge, and that of another which he 

 shot near Petworth while chasing a Turtle-Dove ; and also 

 notes tliat there is a specimen of the Hobby in Chichester 

 Museum, which was shot at Halnaker in September 1836, 

 and that he " had observed it near the great beech-woods 

 during the autumn, and, indeed, it is at this season that the 

 Hobby is generally killed." 



