a few pairs were seen among the large terebinth trees near the foot of the hills of Judea. They seem to

roost and build there, feeding on
habits and flight rather than the Hobby. ioe |

“The Orange-legged Hobby (Erythropus vespertinus),” says Lord Liliord, i his ‘ Notes on the Birds
observed by him in the Tonian Islands, &c.,’ ‘arrives in Corfu, occasionally in great numbers, about the
latter end of April. In the spring of 1858 it was very abundant, particularly ag Rene a Sue co
island to the north of Corfu, celebrated as a favourite resting-place for immense flights of quails during
their vernal migration. It appears to be very fearless of man. I have watched a flock of five or six

ly in the plains, over which they hover, resembling the Kestrel in their

a

for upwards of an hour, during which time they often approached within ten or ae yards ou where
I sat, though 1 was in no way concealed. As far as my observation goes, this species only SELL for a
few days in Corfu, on its passage northwards ; and I have never heard of its occurrence in the island,
except in April and May. The stomach of a specimen I saw skinned contained the eeTEN of large
night-flying moths. Both this species and the Common Hobby are to be observed on the wing as late
as S.or 9 pam. Whe Orange-legged Hobby often alights on the ground, and runs with great ease and
speed.”

About Talien Bay, in North China, ‘* This handsome little bird-slayer,” says Mr. Swinhoe (his remarks
probably applying to the white-winged bird), “was not unfrequently met with flying along overhead or
hovering poised in the air. Judging from the contents of the stomachs of the two I procured, I should say
it committed great havoc among the Larks and other field-birds. It certainly caused considerable conster-
nation wherever it appeared among them. I have had two opportunities of observing the nest of this
species ; one was placed among the topmost boughs of a willow, the other amid the leafy foliage of some
umbrageous tree. The nests were large and round, and built of sticks, resembling somewhat those of the
Magpie. When the old birds visited the nest, the young (balls of white down, with bluish bills) set up a
chattering cry.”

‘This pretty little Hawk,” says Mr. Wright, in his ‘ List of the Birds observed in the Islands of Malta
and Gozo,’ “visits us in the vernal and autumnal periods of migration, and in some years in much larger
numbers than in others. It is sometimes to be met with in small flocks, when they will allow repeated shots
to be fired at them without taking alarm.”

Lord Lilford remarks that he once saw an Evythropus vespertinus in Andalusia, and that there is a spe-

cimen in the Museum of Valencia ; but it is not, he thinks, a common bird in any part of Spain.

 

Turning to another part of the world, Africa—‘* The birds of this species,” says the Rev. H. B. Tristram,
‘“ have the same gregarious habits in Algeria that Mr. Cochrane has stated them to have in Hungary; they
are, however, very rare. The only breeding-place known to me is on the edge of a pine forest, near Djelfa,
in Algeria proper; and there there are not more than four or five pairs; while in the eastern province of
Constantine they do not seem to occur, except as stragglers. They return late from the south ; and on
my visiting their rookery in June, 1856, they were employed in repairing old nests, and had not yet com-
menced laying.”

In Dr. Kirk’s paper ‘ On the Birds of the Zambesi Region of Eastern Tropical Africa,’ it is stated that
‘this pretty little Hawk is found near the river. It appears only at sunset and in the dusk, when, coming
in great numbers from the shady forest or from among the fronds of the lofty Borassus-palm, it hovers,
swallow-like, over the plains and water, catching dragonflies and locusts, which, with other insects, caught
on the wing, seem to constitute its chief or only food. In February and March it was seen in numbers on
the Shiré, where the bush-vegetation and palm-forest come down to the river.” This note also probably
refers to the bird with white under wing-coverts.

With respect to the nidification of this species, Mr. Cochrane (who had the good fortune to meet with it
in Hungary during the breeding-season) informed Mr. Hewitson that it arrives in that country about the
middle of April, and lays its eggs early in the following month. ‘They make no nest for themselves, but,
after a fight with the lawful owners, take possession of those of the Crow, Rook, or Magpie, altering or re-
pairing them to their own taste. Mr. Cochrane says he has found their eggs in a nest of Corvus corone, that
they are sometimes six in number, but most commonly four or five. ‘ Sometimes in isolated trees, at others
as many as six or seven pairs in one tree, in a rookery, exactly as Rooks in England.’ The eggs most
nearly resemble those of the Kestrel, being, however, for the most part considerably less ; like the eggs of
that bird they are sometimes finely freckled throughout, and much resemble those of the red Grouse.”

The Plate represents an adult male and a female, of the size of life.