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BIRDS ABOUT ELLESMERE AND LLANSILIN. Nov., 1892. 
Rhaiadr, not a great way from Oswestry, the peregrine falcon 
has sometimes a nest, and would have a nest there often, if it 
only had peace. But unfortunately the man who kills 
the poor falcon, supposing he has done something meritorious, 
if not positively heroic, holds his head higher for a 
twelvemonth at least. I consider the liobbv a rarer bird 
V 
than the falcon, and I believe I have never seen it 
alive. Although the kite is a rare bird, solely in conse¬ 
quence of the war of extermination waged against it, I see 
it from time to time—a year ago I saw it close to my own 
house. It was a winter’s day, with some snow on the 
ground. Beneath an old hawthorn tree there was no snow. 
There were a number of redwings feeding on the hips and 
haws lying on the bare patch under the tree. I was 
debating in my own mind, while in a sort of ambush not far 
off, whether I should shoot some of these redwings, for they 
are good eating. But there was a keener eye upon the 
birds than mine—an eye far up in the zenith. Suddenly I 
was aware of a great bird swooping down—a bolt out of the 
blue. Then off went this huge bird with one of the redwings, 
whilst others of them were so frightened that they flew 
about my head and almost between my legs in their fear. 
There could be no mistake about the kite—his forked tail 
betrayed him. More than this, the kite is the only hawk 
that is wont to take his prey on the ground. Associated in 
my mind with the kite, although a very different bird—a bird 
of a slow flight and a cowardly disposition—is the buzzard. 
Of late years at Rhiwlas, near Llansilin, two buzzards have 
been caught in traps. One of these is now in Ellesmere 
Museum. I have seen the hen harrier both in Ellesmere 
and the Llansilin district, but only once in each place. The 
marsh harrier I have seen several times, but only near 
Llansilin. The merlin is also a rare hawk, and I have 
never found its nest. I see the sparrow hawk oftener in 
winter than in summer, and the kestrel oftener in summer 
than in winter. 
Passing to the names of these birds, the falcon is the 
hawk with the crooked talons, or. perhaps more pro¬ 
bably, with the curved wings. In Latin falx is a sickle, 
a curved instrument. Hawk, earlier liauek, represents havek 
or havoc, from the base hab (whence our “have”), to hold 
or seize. The common phrase “ hob nob ” comes from 
hab and nab, derived respectively from Anglo-Saxon habban, 
to have, and nabban, not to have. It means “ take it or 
leave it,” i.e., come and talk with me, you may drink 
or not as you please. This base hab is also that from which 
hobby comes, the letter “ y ” being an excrescence. So hobby 
