THE HossBy. 145 
In the adults the plumage is bluish-grey on the upper parts, barred with a 
darker tint, the head black, and there is a broad black patch on either side 
descending from the gape termed the moustache; the lower parts are white, suffused 
with buff, spotted on the throat and upper breast, and transversely barred on the 
remainder with blackish. Cere and legs bright yellow; irides dark hazel; bill 
horn colour. Length of male 15 inches, of female 19 inches. 
Young birds are ashy-brown above, darkest on the head, each feather edged 
with yellowish-rufous; under parts whitish, longitudinally streaked with dark 
chocolate brown; tail irregularly barred with reddish-brown, and tipped with white. 
The nestlings are at first covered with white down. Varieties occur; the writer 
has seen a female, obtained in Somerset, that had on the poll and nape the straw 
yellow feathers characteristic of the Lanner. The Peregrines of the extreme west 
of England are very white upon the chest, and have ever been highly prized by 
falconers for their superior dash and courage. 
Family—FALCONID/E. 
Hopspy. 
Falco subbuteo, LINN. 
HE Hobby is a scarce and local summer visitor to our English woodlands 
from the south, arriving late in May, restricted in its distribution, some 
believe, to the same districts as those chosen by the Nightingale; however, Robert 
Gray considered that he had sufficient evidence of its having once nested in the 
Isle of Arran. It chiefly affects the eastern and midland counties of England, is 
always rare in the S.W counties and in Wales, while in Ireland there are few 
instances of its occurrence; in Scotland it is only seen as a passing migrant. Not 
unfrequently it is met with during the winter months, these being birds that have 
