Volume 20, Plate V / Ornithology (Birds)

Hobby

Falco subbuteo

A finely formed falcon with proportionally longer wings than the Peregrine, the Hobby visits England only rarely as a summer migrant, arriving in April and departing in October to winter in warmer regions. It haunts enclosed wooded districts, breeds on trees in the forsaken nests of crow or magpie, and lays bluish white eggs blotched with olive green; its favourite quarry is the lark, which it pursues with great activity.