CHAPTER LXXXIY. 



The Hobby Hawk. 



Falco suhhuteo, Lin. ; Le Hohreau, Buf. 



Description and Character. — The Hobby is another variety 

 of the Hawk family, a handsomer bird than the Sparrow- 

 Hawk, and the swiftest and most eager of all the tribe in 

 the pursuit of its prey ; but it is neither so docile or tract- 

 able as the Kestrel or Sparrow Hawk after domestication, and 

 consequently proportionately less interesting. The Hobby, in 

 former times, when hawking was a Royal pursuit, was kept 

 for hunting Partridges and Quails, and has been used by 

 fowlers for taking Larks as well. It is exceptionally fleet of 

 wing, and few birds — not even Swallows — can outpace it ; its 

 strength and endurance are likewise very great. 



A matured specimen measures from 12in. to 121in. in length, 

 the tail occupying 6in. ; the breadth, from tip to tip of wings, 

 is 2ft. Sin. The bill is dingy blue, palest near the junction. 

 The cere and edges of the eyelids are yellow, and the irides 

 dark hazel, in some specimens yellow or gravel ; the eyes are 

 fierce and cruel looking. The forehead and crown, the back, and 

 wing coverts, are dingy blackish brown, edged with pale russet 

 brown ; on each side of the hind neck is a buff spot. From 

 the junction of the upper mandible, running over each eye, 

 is a streak of yellowish white or pale yellow, forming a 

 distinct eye-marking ; from the back of the head, passing 

 through the eye, is a black mark, and striking from this, 

 beneath the eyes, is a crescent-shaped line of black, stretching 

 down the sides of the neck. The wings are dusky brown. 



