50 FALCONID.E. 



may appear, are hazarded in order to draw attention to a sub- 

 ject which it may possibly yet be in the power of some Bri- 

 tish naturalist to set satisfactorily at rest. 



The appearance of this species in the south of Europe, 

 Monsieur Temminck considers to be accidental. It is pro- 

 bable, he says, that it is drawn towards the coasts of the 

 Mediterranean by the accidental migration of the insects 

 that form its customary food. Monsieur Roux also says 

 that its appearance in Provence is not sufficiently frequent 

 to allow it to be ranked among the birds of passage of that 

 country. 



This falcon is said to be chiefly observed, in countries 

 where it abounds, in copse-Avood, or in open level ground 

 interspersed with bushes ; sometimes it is seen seated upon 

 the dead branch of a tree. Its food is known to consist 

 chiefly, if not entirely, of insects of the coleopterous order, 

 crickets and grasshoppers, as the remains of such insects 

 alone have been found in the stomachs of specimens that 

 have been dissected. In pursuit of these nocturnal insects, 

 the Orange-legged Hobby is seen skimming over marshy 

 spots late in the evening, occasionally uttering its peculiar 

 and musical call-note. 



These particulars of the habits of the species perfectly 

 agree with my own observations with the locality in which 

 I have seen them, and their supposed occupation. 



The figures represented in the plate are an adult male, 

 and a young bird about a year old. 



The male measures ten and a half or eleven inches in 

 entire length ; the wings, from the carpus to the tip, are nine 

 inches ; and reach, when closed, to the tip of the tail. The 

 beak measures six lines in diameter from the forehead to the 

 tip, and four lines and three-quarters in thickness at the 

 base ; it is sharp pointed, and has a prominent tooth, but 

 the upper ridge is not much arched. The wings are long 



