148 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 
Family—FALCONIDA. 
ReEpD-FooTED FALCON. 
Falco vespertinus, LINN. 
HIS little Falcon, somewhat less in size than the Hobby, is remarkable for a 
conspicuous difference in the plumage of the two sexes, and is only a rare 
accidental visitor in the summer to this country from the far South East, some 
thirty instances of its occurrence having been recorded. The British Isles lie so 
far to the west of its habitat that few ornithologists are likely to meet with it 
unless they seek it in those countries it commonly visits, and in a long experience 
the writer has never had the opportunity of examining a “ British’’ specimen in 
the flesh. Of the thirty instances recorded the Eastern Counties have had the 
largest share, but Cornwall, Devon, and Pembrokeshire have also contributed; in 
Scotland a single example has been obtained in Aberdeenshire, and one in Ireland. 
One of two shot in Cornwall is said to have been obtained in February, while one 
is stated to have been killed at Fordingbridge, in Hants., in January. The 
appearance of these birds in this country in the winter is so difficult to account 
for—all the members of the species should be then wintering either in Damaraland 
in S. Africa, or in India, that it is to be presumed young birds of the common 
Hobby have been mistaken for it. 
The head quarters of the Red-footed Falcon in Europe are in Hungary and 
South East Russia, where it arrives in the spring. In Asia it ranges through 
South West Siberia, and in this part of the world there is also a closely allied 
species, Falco amurensis. It is almost exclusively insectivorous, and is gregarious, 
large numbers may be seen wheeling in the air at dusk,* like Swifts, capturing 
night-flying moths. The flocks, both in spring and autumn, perform singular 
aerial dances, something after the manner of house-flies; as Dresser writes “ fixing 
an imaginary point in the air, they will fly straight towards it, then return, and 
follow continually nearly the same route, never passing certain limits in their 
flight to and fro.” They roost at night as close together as they can, generally 
on the bare branches of a pine. They also breed in colonies, five or six nests 
being often met with in the same tree, the old nests of Rooks, Crows, or Magpies 
* Hence its specific name vespertinus. 
