ORANGE-LEGGED HOBBY. 49 



cmnstance to me, had a hawk brought to him of a kind 

 that he had never seen before ; it had been observed, by one 

 of the before-mentioned keepers of Claremont, to enter a 

 hole in a tree at eleven or twelve feet from the ground ; the 

 man had with him an active little boy, who, climbing up the 

 tree, succeeded in securing the bird. The keeper had never 

 seen a bird of the sort before, although well acquainted with 

 the other small species of hawks which abound in that part 

 of Surrey. My young friend described it as extremely small, 

 very dark in colour on the upper parts of its plumage, and 

 with red or orange-coloured legs, and whitish claws ; it sat 

 remarkably upright on its perch, so as to give an impression 

 that it would fall over backwards. It ate voraciously such 

 food as was offered it, but was so extremely wild, that, fearing 

 he could never succeed in taming it, or reconciling it to its 

 cage, after keeping it about a week, he determined to give 

 it its liberty, being unconscious of the rarity and value of 

 his captive. On opening the door of its cage it flew off with 

 incredible swiftness, and was presently lost to sight. Wish- 

 ing to ascertain more exactly the appearance of this bird, I 

 showed my young friend various drawings of hawks, and 

 other birds, and he immediately pointed out, without hesi- 

 tation, the female of the Orange-legged Hobby. It was in 

 the middle of the summer of 1840 that this bird was cap- 

 tured. The fact of its being seen several times in the middle 

 of summer, leads to the supposition that some few pairs may 

 occasionally breed in England ; and it is not impossible that 

 the bird which was caught in a hole in a tree had chosen 

 that locality for the purposes of incubation ; we are the more 

 inclined to this opinion, as it has been conjectured by seve- 

 ral naturalists that such a situation is chosen by this species 

 as a breeding place, although nothing certain is known on the 

 subject of the nest and eggs, which have not hitherto been 

 described, that we are aware of. These remarks, crude as they 



