10 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



RED-LEGGED FALCON. 



Falco vespertinus. 



A VERY rare summer visitant. In Mr. Dresser's ' Birds 

 of Europe,' vol. vi. p. 94, it is stated that one was shot 

 at Kottingdean in 1851, by Mr. Howard Saunders. I 

 wrote to the latter for further particulars, and, in his reply, 

 dated Oct. 6, 1889, he informed me that he, being at school at 

 the late Dr. Smith's at Rottingdean, and one of the senior 

 boys there, was allowed to take the Doctor's walking- 

 stick gun and wander about in his kitchen-garden to 

 shoot small birds. This garden was fringed with sycamores 

 up to the height at which the wind caught them, and sud- 

 denly the Falco vespertinus alighted on a branch, and he shot 

 it. It was a female or young male, and was mounted in 

 Brighton for Dr. Smith, who had a dozen or so of stuffed 

 birds. Dr. Smith died about 1864, and Mr. Howard Saunders 

 does not know what has become of them. 



The late Mr. Rowley, in his ' Ornithological Miscellany,' 

 vol. i. pt. 2, has the following : — " The Red-legged Falcon 

 paid the Brighton downs a visit on May 20, 1873, when 

 an adult male arrived, of which I sent an account to the 

 ' Field,' May 24. I received two sorts of beetle on which 

 it had been feeding. This bird two days after death 

 became very high, as is usually the case with those which 

 live on beetles and some other insects. This pretty little 

 Falcon breeds in flocks." I saw this at Mr. Swaysland's in 

 the flesh. 



In the 4th ed. of Yarrell's ' British Birds ' it is merely 

 mentioned that the bird has occurred in Sussex. 



