lfiÛXerJmp.
J, Wolf, aneLBCJiuhCer. 3nL/£lx3i. TALCO STTJBjBTTTEO, Z in r v .
FALCO SUBBUTEO, lànn.
Hobby.
Falco siibbuteoy Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 127.
Barletta, Daud. Traité d’Om., tom. ii. p. 129.
— stilbuteo major, Lath. Ind. Om. SuppL, p. 10.
—- hirundimm, Brehm, lsis, 1832, p. 740.
— (Hypotriorchisj subbateo, Kaup, Classif. der Sâug. and Vog., p. 111.
Dendrofalco, Briss. Om., tom. i. p. 375.
Hypotriorchis subbuteo, Bou\ Idis, 1826, p. 976.
Dendrofalco subbuteo, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, p. 3.
Hypotriorckes sulku: o, Bias. List of Birds of Eur., Engl, edit p. 4.
If an ornithologist were requested to name the most elegant species o f Falcon inhabiting the British Islands,
he would unquestionably reply, the Hobby; for the proportions o f no other raptorial bird are more evenly
balanced, o r the colours more harmoniously distributed. Its long, pointed wings indicate that its powers of
flight are fully adequate to the performance o f the lengthened journeys it makes from one country to another,
and to enable it to overtake the Snipe, the Lark, and other swift-flying b ird s: it is true that its legs are not
so strong, or its hind claws so powerful, as those o f the Peregrine; but they are amply sufficient for the
seizure o f the smalt-sized species upon which it chiefly preys. Unlike the little dashing Merlin, which
frequents the northern portions o f this country, the Hobby affects the open fields and champaign parts o f our
southern districts, and evhices a preference for the woodlands. It differs from the Merlin also in the nature
o f its food; for, while it does not hesitate to give chase to the Snipe and the Plover, or to harry over the
.fields in pursuit of the I .ark, it lives much upon insects. The dragonfly o f the water-side is not free from
its attacks by day, nor the hard-winged chaffer, which buzzes round the chestnut-blossoms, in the evening.
In the capture of the latter insect, its movements are most graceful, and strongly remind one o f those o f the
Nightjar. To carry' the comparison between the Hobby and the Merlin 'Still further, I may state that one is
a migrant, the other is- n o t; and to make the matter more clear, the former is a bird of the south, coming
to the central parts o f England in the spring, and departing again in the autumn, while the other dwells
more exclusively in the north further still with the comparison, the Hobby nests in trees, and the Merlin
generally on the ground.
The counties o f England most favoured with the presence o f the Hobby are Devonshire, Dorsetshire,
Hants, Sussex, and Oxfordshire; it does, however, occasionally frequent all the midland counties to Yorkshire
and Durham, beyond which it is seldom seen. I t is considered a rare bird in the sister kingdom of
Ireland, only one o r two instances o f its occurrence there being recorded.
The Hobby, as I have said, is a migrant to our islands, and these islands appear to be the extreme
verge o f its western ran g e ; on the continent o f Europe it is abundant in Spain, Italy, France, and Germany,
north o f which its numbers become gradually less. In all of these, as with us, it is a summer visitant,
proceeding south in winter. Captain Loche informs us that it inhabits the three provinces o f Algeria,
where other species o f this particular form also occur, such as the Falco Eleonora and the F . concolor;
these, with the present bird, have been distinguished by a separate generic title—that of Hypotriorchis.
Eastward the Hobby extends from North Africa, through Persia, to India, where Mr. Jerdon states it is a
winter visitant, but is not very common: he has killed it near Jaluaj and it has been taken at Calcutta and
in various parts of the Himalayas; there, as in this country, -it preys upon Larks and other small birds,
and not snfrequently upon insects. The one procured by Mr. Jerdon near Jaln a had its stomach
crammed with dragonflies,; which he had seen it hawking for over a tank ju st after sunset; he adds that
it does not breed in India.
M. Badly, in bt* ‘ Oroithologie de la Savoie,’ states that the Hobby dwells in the forests o f fir, where it
builds in the bight trees or in the cleft o f a rock in the neighbourhood. The nest is constructed in May,
and is formed o f th* wme materials as that o f the Peregrine: by the end o f the month, the full complement
of eggs is la id ; they «re four o r five iu number, of a dirty white, covered with reddish-grey spots, and are
about 1 inch 8 lines in length, by 1 inch 4 lines in breadth. The young are hatched in about twenty-four
days, and are then entirely covered with a pure-white down; they remain in the vicinity o f the for a
month, during which time the parents bring them food and teach them to fly. In autumn, *ri*b the first
migration of the Thrushes, the Hobby abandons the mountains, and disperses over the plains, particularly
those which are studded with small bills. At times, especially in the morning, the old birds fly towards the
fields to hunt the Lark, the Wagtail, and the Swallow. It does not fear to follow the sportsman, and will