JGould&EGRitli/a: ile la lilh,
EB.YTHHQPUS V E S PER T IN U S
'Walter, Imp.
ERYTHROPUS VESPERTINUS.
Orange-legged Hobby.
Felco vespertinus, Linn. Sysi. Nat., tom. i. p. 129.
— ntfipet, Besekc, Yog.' Kurlands, p. 13, tab. 3,4.
Gerchnets vespertttuu, Boie, Isis, 3 328, p. 314.
Erythropus vesperimus, Brehm, Yog. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 76.
Pannychistes rvjtpes, Kaup, Natu'rL .Syst., p. 57.
Tinnmcuhu (Erythropus) ruftpes, Kaup, Glass, der Saiig. und Yog., p. 108.
) vespertinus, Kaup, Mus. Senckenb., 1845, p. 257.
— - negpertiH’ts, Gray, Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 21, TinnuncuhiSy'sp. 13.
This retrmrV?<kl> pretty species, wliose natural home is iu countries far wanner than our own, has been killed
in EnaLnd hr» many times that no question can arise as to the propriety of assigning it a place among the
“ Binds o f lim rt Britain.” Here, as well as in all the parts of Europe in which it has yet been discovered, it
is slfiedv rt migrant, and, moreover, is rendered remarkable by its peculiar habits: in the first place, it
is gregarious, many often breeding in company; in the next, it is so fearless of man that, if one or more
o f a number be killed, the remaiuder remain apparently regardless o f danger; thirdly, it is said to some-,
times braid under the roofs o f houses, and even to construct its nest in their interiors; and, lastly, it is
crepitsctd.»!-, feeding on insects captured in the twilight, and but seldom on b ird s; much diversity,
mpreo t r, occurs in the colouring o f the sexes and immature examples. It is somewhat doubtful whether
there lijs nut two o r three species o f this particular form included under the specific term vespertinus, inasmuch
m the dark-coloured males from China and South Africa have the under part of the wing white,
and H§&1 plumbeous as seen in European specimens ; but, in their size and markings, uothing is ob-
servaik vvldch would enable the ornithologist to determine the plurality o r unity of these birds in a
specif!.' Icn»-'.
Xbt\ recorded notice of the occurrence of this Falcon in our islands will be found in the fourth
volumA *4 I**udou's ' Magazine of Natural History/ where the late Mr. Yarrell states that three indi-
vidivv; i fafi adult male, a young male, and an adult female) were obtained iu May 1830, at Horning, in
Nori’o1’/, and th at a fourth specimen was shot at Holkham Park. Besides these he mentions, in his
4 Histv. y tn Brittsb Bird s/ that a fifth example was shot in the same' county in 1832, three more in Yorkshire,
P rham, one near Devonport, and that a female was struck down by a Raven in Littlecote
Park, wttir affttagerford. Since the publication o f Mr. Yarrell's work, several other specimens have been
p ro c u r e .; tan s W, Oxenden Hammond, Esq., o f St. Alban’s Court, Wingham, Kent, records, in the
4 Z oobii-u ’ for 1882, the killing o f an adult female a t Sandling Park, near Hytbe, in the early part of the
same ui>r, #wl Mr. Stevenson, o f Norwich, in the 4 Zoologist ’ for 1863, that he had recently purchased a
young i t de which had been killed a t Somerleyton Station, near Lowestoft, on the 12th o f July, 1862. In
a lvtte i £ ceived from the last-mentioned gentleman, dated June 20,1868, he informs me that an adult female
bad killed o r YarTUoutb Brood a fortnight before; and, more recently, M r. H. Smither, of Churt, states
that a i .•.Hi-, u-'.niv feHiak had been shot near Farnham. The above comprises all the British examples
with ncqutmtfd? but there maybe others which are unknown tom e . There is no verified
¡„y,.-, j, of it» haring been found in Scotland, and but one of its occurrence in Ireland. It is a eoustant
- ¡¡> Silesia, Hutt'^arv, Poland, Austria, the Tyrol, Switzerland, and the districts on the northern side
ol . e-..ii whence it passes to Provence and Tuscany. In France, as in this country, it is o f rare
oe« Y'i- e, on# is unknown in Holland. Mr. Jerdon states that, “ although generally spread throughput
I,..; ■ | 3 >. T-w^i-rc v« w . ora mo n ; I killed it on the Neilgherries, in the Carnatic, and in Central India; it
¡6 ir a m ry liiifvqiMint in Lower Bengal and the neighbourhood of Calcutta during the rainy season only.
It ht • | ■ 1 a<;- ;»ki.ig rh- Himalayan ran g e ; and I procured examples a t Darjeeling.”
A * m Jerdon j u i r t l y r e m a r k s , n o t m u c h i s k n o w n o f i t s h a b i t s ; b u t t h a t l i t t l e I w i l l here g i v e i n t h e
- ,L >f «h■ e w h o h a v e w r i t t e n a f e w b r i e f n o t e s r e s p e c t i n g i t . P a l l a s s t a t e s t h a t t h e b i r d s he a a i i ^ l r a
t o ' - . v . ' t ■ e ; i i u k l i i j i s p i d e r s , v v a t e r - i a s e c t s , a n d , o c c a s i o n a l l y , s w a l l o w s , a n d b r e e d i n d e
n e a t * . j - • s : . « n w g l r s o f t h o s e e x a m i n e d b y M r . J e r d o n c o n t a i n e d t h e r e m a i n s o f i n s e c t s o n l y , b e U a X f t r i n y j ,
i t i v - 1 c t ' m . i i n A s i a M i n o r , a n d t h a t i t b u i l d s i t s n e s t u n d e r t h e r o o f s , a n d s o m e t i n *
i n t c a r r l l ; . H i e R e v . H . f t . T r i s t r a m , i n h i s 4 N o t e s o n B i r d s o b s e r v e d i n S o u t h e r n Palestine,’
s t a t e s v . i i t t i v * ; — e ? v l i t t k * Hobby i s a s u m m e r m i g r a n t , b u t r e t u r n s e a r l i e r t h a n t h e common T h e
n b s e n c t • > ! s a - r a l M e w o o d s i s n r o b a b l v t h e r e a s o n o f i t s b e i n g a r a r e b i r d a n d e e w n w r « j o