90.
4- BOBBY.
SPORANGEBREASTED
HOBBY.
thers : the ‘plumage on the upper parts brown, each feather margined
with ferruginous': behind the neck a crefcent of white:
chin and fore part o f the neck rufous j near the end o f each feather
a bar o f black : the under parts of The body white ; lower belly
and thighs barred rufous and white. The tail was wanting. This
is perhaps the bird that Buffon has defcribed*j but in the P L
Enl. -J-, to which he refers, the bill is not larger than common.
Hobby, Gen. Syn. i. p-. 203. N° 90,— Ar£t. Zool. ii. p. 227. O-
Falco fubbuteo; Brun. N° 10, 1 1.-—Muller, N° 63. e
H P H I S bird feems not to venture fo far north as many others :
is not met with in any part o f Sweden, except the moil
fouthern provinces J : migrates Jouth in autumn; winters about
Woronefch and AJirachan ||: is moft common in the open country,
particularly in the deferts o f Tartary and Sibiria, whenever fmall
trees are at hand in which it may breed §. We believe this to be
the moft: rapid in flight o f all the Hawks. Larks will not truft
to their wings while the Hobby is in light; and we remember once
to have feen a Swallow purfued and overtaken, while on the wing,
by this bird.
Orange-brealted Hobby, Gen. Syn. i. p. 103^ N° 91.
T H A V E met with two o f thefe birds, which I fufpeft to be
males; the one in length only nine inches, the other fcarcely
ten : in the firft, the bars on the back were not very confpicuous:
* Vol. i. p. 237. f 464.
X Scarcely beyond the province of Schoneni Arft. Zool.
t[ Dec* Ruf, ii. p. 142.. § Mr. Pennant.
the
the throat only orange: chin plain white: fpace round the eyes
fparingly covered with feathers.
T h e fecond had a large rufous patch on the throat, in the middle
o f which was a fpot of white: the upper parts brown, black,
barred with blueilh: bread and belly the fame, but crofled with
narrow bars of white : lower belly, thighs, and vent, rufous: legs
orange.
Both the above came from Cayenne. P l a c e .
Merlin, Gen. Syn. i. p. 106. N° 93-
J T has been fuppofed that the Merlin does not ftay with us in
fummer; but I am allured by Dr. Heyjham that it breeds in
Cumberland, and that he has met with two nefts, in each o f which
were four young, placed on the ground like that o f the Ringtail.
The bird fuppofed to feed at ,a ‘diftance from the neft. Thefe
birds vary much in colour: in fome, the back and wings are not
o f a blueilh alh-colour, but ferruginous. Their manner of building
alfo varies, a pair o f them having built in an old Crow’s neft,
near Cowbit, in Lancajhire: of thefe it was obferved, that when
they firft caste, they were perpetually making a noife; but after
the hen had hatched, became quite filent *. Is met with on the
continent of Europe, but we believe no where common : obferved
now and then in the Ca/pian Defert and B ara baf. The egg is of
a plain chocolate-brown, roundilh, one inch and a quarter in
length J. The male and female both alike ||. v
* Gent. Magi 1766. p. 24.
X Portland Muf.
4 Mr. Pennant..
|l Hiß. de Lyon. i. p. 202.
93'
MERLINI
m
I
I
Plain