THE HOBP.Y. 
1.>1 
the stone the very inonient the would-lje shooter comes to a 
stand, no matter how (][nick he may he, and to skim away 
along the ground under cover of it, not to reappear until far 
out of sliot. ]\Ir Gray observes that tliis bird is charged with 
sometimes leaving its prey untouched, as if it deliglited in 
bloodshed merely for its own sake. Poachers of another race 
sometimes deem it advisable not to pick up their slaughtered 
game. It is necessary to observe that the Peregrine is fre- 
(piently confounded with the Goshawk, by native ornithologists. 
THE HOBBY. 
Falco suhbuteo. 
In some parts of Shetland, especially in Unst, the Hobby is 
said to be of frequent occurrence, but it appears that under 
this term are included merlins, kestrels, and sparrow-hawks, 
according to fancy. Each of these has at various times been 
confidently pointed out to me as the Hobby; and even the 
shooting and production of one of the very birds, the Merlin 
for instance, does not always suffice to convince the assertor of 
his mistake. Many a kindly-hearted man fails to see that, as 
some one has very sensibly said, it is no moral reproach to a 
place not to possess a rich fauna, and fails also to understand 
the apparent suspiciousness of the wandering naturalist whose 
demands for evidence must necessarily become more exacting in 
proportion to the interest attaching to the alleged frequency of 
a species. As for the Hobby, it is hardly probable that a bird 
of its habits, scarce in Orkney, and far from common on the 
mainland of Scotland, should be of frequent occurrence in 
Shetland, and that too at all seasons. The late Mr Dunn makes 
no allusion to it, and it is a significant fact, that, until lately, 
no list of Shetland birds included both Merlin and Hobby, 
some lists giving one and some the other, but none giving 
the two. Notwithstanding my own anxiety to procure speci- 
mens, I have shot but one individual ; and, although constantly 
