BIRDS. 



Mr. W. Berwick informs me that the Peregrine used to have a 

 nesting place near Newburgh and in the Lomonds, but without 

 mentioning any dates. Col. Feilden does not, however, appear to 

 have known of the fact between 1850 and 1855 {vide supra). I have 

 in my mind's eye a situation near Newburgh, where a quite possible 

 site might have existed before the railway was formed, and subsequent 

 inquiries have proved this to be a correct supposition, while other 

 former sites were at Earlsferry and at Kincraig. 



CO subbuteo, L. Hobby. 



Rare. Mostly an autumn visitant; but has been known to breed 

 within the area. Sir Edward Newton records it as having nested near 

 Kinnaird House in Perthshire {Zool, June 1889, p. 32). This record 

 is, I consider, in every way worthy of full repetition. After criticising 

 a previous statement (or referring to it) Sir Edward Newton says : 

 " On the 29th August 1887, 1 saw, at Kinnaird House — a small shoot- 

 ing, belonging to the Duke of Atholl, on the right bank of the Tay, 

 and about half-way between Dunkeld and Grandtully — nailed to the 

 keeper's 'larder,' an unfortunate old Hobby and three young ones, 

 nearly full grown and fledged, but with the down still hanging on 

 their heads and backs. The keeper told me he had got them that 

 summer from a nest in a tree on the other side of the river ; and on 

 my remarking that they were not likely to kill his game, he answered 

 he knew they fed chiefly on insects, but still they were 'harks,' and 

 that was enough for him." (The italics are mine.) 



These birds are again referred to in a marginal note (and. Sir E. 

 Newton), in a copy of Mr. Howard Saunders's Manual of British Birds 

 (1st edition), which was the property of the late Mr. Henry Evans, of 

 Jura Deer Forest, and which has passed through my hands. The 

 writing, I think, is that of the late Mr. Henry Evans. The date 

 attached is " 1887." 



Stuart, the then head-keeper on Kinnaird property, also informed 

 Millais that he had killed a nesting Hobby about 1883 or 1884. 

 Stuart had been many years keeper at Kinnaird. He is since 

 deceased. 



Mr. Eedle also mentions its occurrence upon the hoardings of 

 keepers in Hannoch {Zool, 1871, p. 2656), and I myself also saw a 

 female hanging on such a place in 1874. This same day, when a 

 party — of which I was one — Avas shooting the Crosscraig covers, I also 

 saw the male — a lovely old black-moustachioed bird — which passed 

 over my head twice in two successive drives along the sides of a 

 round knoll which was covered by a dense growth of coppice of 



