204 HANDBOOK OF BRmSH INLAND BIRDS 
position on a shelf or buttress of rock. Otherwise 
it merely scrapes a hollow in the earth upon some 
precipitous ledge. The eggs are from two to four 
in number, and are generally laid in April. They 
are a little smaller than the Buzzard's, and are 
much like a magnified Kestrel's egg, being thickly 
mottled and freckled all over with orange-red or 
chestnut-brown. The cry of the Peregrine is a 
sharp, loud, repeated call. The same situation is 
used for breeding purposes for many years in 
succession, and, as is the case with many birds with 
the same settled habits, the young birds are driven 
away by the old at the end of the summer, as 
soon as they are well able to shift for themselves. 
HOBBY. 
{Falco subbuteo.) 
This delightful little Hawk is a scarce summer 
visitor, chiefly to large woodlands in the southern 
parts of the country, where it arrives in May, 
about the time that the trees come fully into leaf. 
Though a smaller bird than either the Kestrel or 
Sparrow Hawk, it has extremely long wings, and 
the speed of its flight may be judged by the fact 
that it is particularly fond of preying upon Swal- 
lows, and often accompanies their gathering flocks as 
