adult male as a singular variety of that bird. The young
female has more the appearance of a young Merlin. About
twenty examples have been recorded of its occurrence in the
British Islands since the year 1830, when four were killed in
Norfolk (Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. p. 116). The majority of specimens
have been obtained in the eastern or southern counties,
as in that already named, Suffolk, Surrey, Kent, Sussex,
Devon and Cornwall; but it has also been met with in
Berkshire, Shropshire, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland.
In Scotland two have been killed near Aberdeen, and
in Ireland a single example in the county of Wicklow.
The geographical distribution of this species, so far as it
can be determined at present, has been elaborately traced by
Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser in their beautiful ‘Birds of
Europe,’ and much information respecting its habits has
also been compiled from various sources by those industrious
authors. The Bed-footed Falcon has been obtained some
live times in Sweden. In Finland, where it had been previously
known in a very few instances, it was, according to
Dr. Malmgren, several times observed in the summer of
1869; and three examples were killed so far to the north as
lat. 65°. I t is common in the neighbourhood of Archangel,
and eastward it ranges as far as the plains of Tunkinsk in
Western Siberia, which appears to be its lim it; since the
bird, formerly confounded with this species, and found in
Amoorland, China and India, is distinct, the Falco amu-
rensis, the adult male of which possesses white, instead of
load-coloured under wing-coverts, while the female and young
resemble more the common Hobby. Falco vespertinus has
been shot at Trebizond, and Canon Tristram mentions it as
a scarce summer-visitant in Palestine. I t passes through
Egypt in autumn and less frequently in spring ; it may possibly
occur further to the southward in Eastern Africa, but
there F. amurensis reappears and extends to Natal. In
Damaraland this last has been only known to occur once,
while F. vespertinus, according to the late Mr. C. J.
Andersson, arrives there during the wet season in incredible
numbers; and further to the north, in Benguela, a large
series of specimens was obtained and sent to Professor
du Bocage at Lisbon. Loclie obtained it in Algeria, but
none of the English ornithologists who have visited that
country seem to have met with it. I t is not common in
Spain and France, in the latter appearing only in some years,
but then in flights.
Having thus traced the limits of the Bed-footed Falcon, it
remains to fill up the interval. In some parts of Italy it is
said to be common, but only on passage; and Dr. Salvadori
says that it has not bred there to his knowledge. I t is most
numerous in the eastern parts of Europe, in Greece, Turkey,
Southern Bussia and Hungary. In the country last named,
Mr. A. H. Cochrane, as he states in a note contributed to
the third edition of Mr. Hewitson’s oological work, found it
breeding, often in small societies, and taking possession of
the nests of the Crow, Book, or Magpie. I t lays from four
to six eggs, some of which, obtained by that gentleman, are
blotched and mottled with two or three shades of light orange-
brown on a yellowish-wliite ground, and measure from l -37 to
1-47 by 1-13 to 1-16 in. In Central Germany it seems only
to occur occasionally; but throughout the whole extent of its
range, except perhaps in the Greek Archipelago, where Dr.
Erhard says it winters, it would appear to be an essentially migratory
species, visiting the north in spring and summer and
the south at the other seasons. Its habits have been described
at great length by Professor von Nordmann, as observed by
him near Odessa, and his account of them has been translated
by Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser in their work just mentioned.
It arrives there at the beginning of April, often in astounding
numbers, and for some time continues in flocks, the birds
dispersing as the breeding season approaches, and reuniting
in autumn before they leave the country. While they are in
flocks, they indulge towards evening in very remarkable
flights at a great height, pursuing very nearly the same
course in a straight line to a certain point, and then turning
back sharply to repeat the evolution. After some hours, the
whole flock, as if at a given signal, goes suddenly to roost in
parties of some twenty or thirty. Their food consists chiefly