44 FALCONID.E. 



or October is again on its retreat to warmer latitudes. The 

 Hobby chooses for its prey larks, swallows, and martins, 

 which he pursues in the air, following them easily in all their 

 rapid evolutions, and strikes with such unerring aim that he 

 seldom fails to secure his selected prey : even the swift can- 

 not escape him. He takes also quails, young partridges, 

 sandpipers, and plovers, when on the wing. 



The male and female hunt together, but are said sometimes 

 to quarrel for what they have caught, and suffer their prey 

 to escape from them. The martins are so terrified at their 

 approach, that they throw themselves upon the ground for 

 safety. Larks are equally disturbed at the sight of their 

 mortal enemy, but instinct teaches them sometimes to seek 

 their safety by rising hastily into the air, where they are 

 secure unless their enemy rises above them. 



The Hobby will occasionally follow sportsmen when shoot- 

 ing with their dogs, and skimming along without any appa- 

 rent motion of the wings, will pounce like lightning upon the 

 larks or other small birds that, startled by the approach of 

 the dogs, rise upon the wing. He also chases cockchafers, 

 grasshoppers, and other large insects, and pursues them until 

 late in the evening ; sometimes he is seen, like the Nightjar, 

 chasing insects over ponds and rivulets when nearly dark. 

 On this account the Hobby retires late to rest, and is not 

 among the earliest risers in the morning, many birds having 

 finished their morning song before he makes his appearance 

 from his nocturnal retreat in the woods. 



The Hobby builds in forests and woods, always selecting a 

 lofty tree. In one of the upper branches in such a spot the 

 nest is constructed, which is built of dry sticks, and lined 

 with cows' hair, moss, and other warm materials. Sometimes a 

 hole in an aged tree is chosen as affording a sheltered retreat. 

 If not disturbed, the same birds sometimes return to their haunt 

 in the succeeding year. The female deposits three or four 



