THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



231 



the centre, the feathers in the crown of the 

 head slightly edged with reddish brown, 

 moustache and streak under the eye black, 

 throat white, a streak over the eye white, two 

 short streaks or marks at the back of the 

 neck white tinged with red, belly and sides 

 white streaked with black, vent, under tail- 

 coverts and thighs, bright rusty red with 

 some small specks of black, flight feathers 

 upper side black slightly tinged with blue, 

 each feather has a narrow edge of white, 

 underneath the wing the flight feathers are 

 spotted with reddish cream colour, and the 

 under parts of the shoulders are creamy 

 white spotted with black, tail bluish black on 

 the upper side, under, except the two centre 

 leathers, the inner webs are barred or 

 blotched with pale dusty red, legs and toes 

 yellow, claws black. 



Immature birds resemble the female, but 

 the feathers on the back are edged with paler 

 colour, and the tail more distinctly barred 

 with light brown. 



The young in the downy state have the 

 head, neck, and under parts dull white ; 

 back and shoulders dingy slate colour. 



Varieties of the Hobby seem to be very 

 rare. 



Note. — The note of the Hobby is said to 

 resemble that of the Wryneck. 



Flight. — The flight is described as being 

 swift and steady, long sustained, and con- 

 tinued by very slight movement of the wings. 

 Like the Peregrine it will sometimes ascend 

 to a great height in pursuit of its prey. 



Migration. — The Hobby seems, in Eng- 

 land, to be a summer visitant, and is most 

 frequently seen in April and the end of 

 October, but specimens have been killed at 

 later periods of the year. 



Food- — Like all the other members of the 

 present genus, the Hobby is fearless in attack- 

 ing its prey, and was esteemed in falconry for 

 flying at smaller game, such as larks, quails, 

 and similar birds. Its natural'food consists 

 of small and" medium sized birds, up to about 

 the size of a partridge. But it has been 



! especially noticed for its skill and persever- 

 ance in pursuit of the skylark, which seems 

 to be its favourite food. The lark also ex- 



l hibiting great dexterity in avoiding the fatal 

 stroke of its pursuer. It is also said to devour 

 quantities of large beetles, Mr. Henry 

 Doubleday found the stomach of two speci- 



J mens he examined filled with the common 

 dung beetle (Gcotrupes stertovarius ). 



Habitat — In England the Hobby has 

 never, so far as records show, been a very 

 common bird, but still not a very rare one, 

 as there is scarcely a county from which 



i specimens have not been procured. In 

 Scotland it is much less common, and in 

 Ireland it is very rare. It has been known 

 to breed in Devonshire, Hampshire, Notting- 

 hamshire, Suffolk. Dorsetshire, Cambridge- 

 shire. Middlesex, Hertfordshire, and War- 

 wickshire. 



Abroad it is a common species in most 

 parts of Europe, except the extreme north ; 

 also in Siberia and India, China, Western 

 Persia, Palestine, and some parts of Africa. 



Nest- — Like most of this family the 

 Hobby is a creature of circumstances, and 

 adapts its nest to trees or cliffs, whichever 

 seems most convenient. It appears, however, 

 to prefer high isolated trees, on which it 

 generally builds among the uppermost 

 branches. The nest is composed of thorns 

 and twigs, lined with wool. Sometimes, 

 perhaps most frequently, the old nest of a crow, 

 or magpie, will be adopted, and slightly 

 repaired. 



EggS- — The eggs of the present species 

 are rather larger and rounder than those of 

 either the merlin or kestrel. Some specimens 

 are hardly distinguishable from those of the 

 Kestrel, being red-brown, with darkershades ; 

 in others the ground is pink, spotted with 

 light brown. They are : however, never quite 

 so dark as those of the Kestrel, being more 

 like the Iceland Falcon in colour. The 

 usual number is two or three, but occasionally 

 four are laid. The eggs should be looked 

 for from the middle to the end of June. 



