In December, 1832, one of these birds, which had her liberty there, was observed to fly several times over a pond on which a wild golden-eyed duck (Anas clangula), exhibiting the beautiful plumage of the adult male, had just alighted, and was remarked to keep watch on him during the day. At dusk, when wild fowl betake themselves to their feeding haunts, this golden eye departed from the pond, and was perceived by the falcon, which instantly commenced pursuit. After a short chase, she seized and brought him back to the place he had just left, when, by struggling violently, he became disengaged from her grasp, and took refuge in a small and shallow pond. Here again he was persecuted by two persons who had witnessed the above occurrence, and though his wings had not been in the least degree injured, he did not again venture to take flight, but seeking escape only by diving, was eventually captured; thus affording evidence of the feathered, being more dreaded than the human tyrant.* He was now pinioned, and compelled to take up his abode with the other wildfowl in the aquatic menagerie, a place which, in the unlimited freedom of flight, he had unluckily happened to visit but a few hours before. Falcons killing each other, &c.-In October, 1833, a female peregrine falcon of Mr. Sinclaire's, a bird of that year, and consequently but a few months old, having got loose in the hawk-yard, killed a male of her own species, a year or two older than herself. He had the power, too, of moving at least a yard from his block. She had nearly eaten him, when the falconer entered the yard to feed them, which he did once daily at a regular hour. This female bird was "full fed" the day before, and had never got more than one meal in the day. Montagu relates a similar occurrence in the Supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary; and in the latter work, mentions one of his sea eagles having eaten the other. About twenty-five years ago, Captain Johnson, of the 1st battalion of the Rifle Brigade, then stationed in the county of Limerick, * Birds of all kinds, when put into cover by peregrine falcons, generally allow themselves to be captured by man, rather than again venture on wing. Grouse and young black-cocks will do so; and several partridges out of a covey, under such circumstances, have lain until caught by the dogs. invited a large party, of which the fair sex, as in the olden time, formed a portion, to a day's hawking; but on going to the mew, it was found that his peregrine falcon, having obtained her liberty, had killed and devoured a merlin (Falco salon), her partner in captivity. The misfortune on such an occasion was not only the loss of the merlin, but was two-fold, as the feasting on it prevented the falcon's service in the chase for that day. The female of a pair of fine birds once in the possession of Mr. R. Ball, attacked and devoured a male taken from the same nest, after they had been kept for about a year, but she died a few days afterwards, in consequence of the wounds received in the contest. Distances to which Trained Falcons sometimes fly, &c.-In the winter of 1820-21, Mr. Sinclaire having lost a trained falcon, knew nothing of her for some months, nor until a paragraph appeared in a Scotch newspaper, stating that a hawk, which had for some time frequented a rookery near Aberdeen, was killed, and on the bells attached to her, the name of "John Sinclaire, Belfast," was engraved. Another of this gentleman's falcons once left him, and took up her abode at a rookery about twelve miles distant from his place, remaining there for about six weeks, when she was again recaptured. When flown at rooks (Corvus frugilegus), this bird always struck down several before alighting to prey on one. person who was eye-witness to the fact assures me, that he once in Scotland saw a trained falcon similarly strike to the ground five partridges in succession out of a covey, before stooping to any one; but such occurrences are very rare. A In the summer of 1835, a female bird was shot near Castle Island, county of Kerry, in the act of killing a crow. A silver ring was fixed to her leg, and on it "J. Campbell, Treesbanks, Ayrshire, Scotland," was engraved. The male bird, on the following day, was shot on the nest, in an old castle, near where the female had been killed.* We find a similar circumstance recorded in Borlase's Natural History of Cornwall, published in 1758. But all that is said on the subject of the species, had better be given. He remarks : : * Communicated to me by R. Chute, Esq.; also noticed in the Fourth Annual Report of the Dublin Nat. Hist. Society. Among the first perennial birds] may be reckoned the Hawks, of which we have several sorts: the Marlions, Spar-hawks, Hobbies, and, in some places, the Lannards. In the reign of Elizabeth, the Cornish and Devonshire gentlemen employed a great deal of their time in hatching, nurturing, and instructing them to fly at the Partridge. In Cornwall at present, this tedious science, which consumes so much of life for so little an end, is now no more, but still exists, it seems, in a neighbouring island; for being at Trerice (the seat of the present Lord Arundell of Trerice), August 25, 1738, I saw a Hawk, which being overpowered by a Crow, fell near a man at his labour in the field, who perceiving the Hawk quite spent, brought it into the house to a gentleman then steward to his Lordship. The Hawk was armed, as usual, with silver plates on its legs and neck; and Mr. Church (so the steward was called) perceiving an inscription engraved, quickly discovered the name of an Irish gentleman, and the place he lived at; upon this he took great care of the Hawk, and wrote immediately to the gentleman. The bird was a favourite, and the gentleman sent a servant from. Ireland into Cornwall on purpose to fetch it." p. 242. In a letter from John Paston, Esquire, to the Knight of the same name, written at Norwich, in 1472-in the reign of Edward IV.—it is remarked, after a most urgent appeal for a Hawk of any kind rather than none, being sent him from Calais :- "If I have not an Hawk, I shall wax fat for default of labour, and dead for default of company, by my troth."* In the autumn and winter I have met with the peregrine falcon in Ireland, far from its native rocks, and have little doubt that the young birds of the year generally migrate. Risso mentions it as a bird of passage to the South of Europe, appearing in the autumn and departing in the spring.† About the marine cliffs at Navarino, I saw this species on the 29th April, 1841, and believed it to be breeding there.‡ * Fenn's Original Letters, &c., vol. 2, p. 111. + Vol. 3, p. 26, edit. 1826. See Savi's Ornitologia Toscana, vol. 1, p. 41. As Pennant, in treating of the Lanner, remarks, "this species breeds in Ireland," and Bewick repeats the words, it is perhaps requisite to state, that the true Falco lanarius, Linn., has never to my knowledge occurred in this country. The bird called lanner by Pennant, is now considered to be the peregrine falcon at a certain age. There can be little doubt that the "Goshawk" of more than one of our Irish lists is also this species. It is the only English name applied to "Falco peregrinus" in M' Skimmin's History of Carrickfergus. We learn also, from two excellen tcontribu THE HOBBY. Falco subbuteo, Linn. Has once at least been obtained in Ireland. In old county histories and other works, the hobby is mentioned, but when more than the mere name is given,· -as in Smith's Cork, the observations suggest that some other species is meant. The hobby is there noticed, as breeding "on the sea-coast." Mr. Templeton has remarked, that one was seen during the breeding season of 1800, at the rocks of Ballynascreen mountains; and another in 1802, at Lough Bray rocks, county of Wicklow. I cannot, however, but think that the male peregrine falcon may have been mistaken for the hobby in these instances, as viewed from a distance it might readily be. Specimens were not obtained for examination. We read, that it is the nature of the hobby to frequent wooded and cultivated districts, and breed in trees, though from what we know of others of its tribe, rocks in lieu of these might possibly be selected for its eyrie. In Norway, indeed, Mr. Hewitson remarks:-"We met with a nest of the hobby, placed upon a projecting ledge of rock on the face of a steep precipice, which, overhung with brushwood, formed a part of the beautiful scenery of one of the lovely lakes of that country."* The specimen, in virtue of which this hawk was recorded as a very rare visitant to Donegal,† is not preserved, and the writer of the notice admits, in a letter to me, that his case is "not proven." Dr. Harvey of Cork kindly informed me to the following effect, in June, 1848:-"I have lately got information which leaves no tors to Macgillivray's History of British Birds, (vol. i. 182, and vol. iii. p. 303,) that by the name of goshawk, this species is commonly known in Peebles-shire; from which circumstance, and the fact that the peregrine falcon (as I learn from Sir William Jardine) has several eyries in the Moffat hills and other localities not far distant from the Border, I cannot but believe that it must often have been the bird so pleasingly introduced in the old Scottish ballads, as the "gay goshawk," &c.-See the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and other works. The frequency with which it is mentioned, would, of itself, lead us to believe that the bird was either common in the country, or that the name was applied to some common species. The peregrine falcon, I presume, must have been at all periods more frequent in Scotland than the goshawk. VOL. I. * Eggs, Brit. Birds, p. 15. † Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, vol. 5. p. 579. E doubt on my mind of the hobby having occurred in this county. On a late visit to my friend Mr. Richard Parker, I saw, for the first time, amongst his beautiful paintings, a hawk, which I could not for a moment hesitate in recognising as a hobby; the history of it is this:-A brother of his shot on the garden wall of Carrigrohan, the family mansion, in the summer of 1822 (?), a hawk which presented so unusual an appearance, that he made a coloured drawing of it. The size he describes as having been between that of a merlin and a kestrel. The painting is an exact copy of the coloured drawing in all respects but size, and it certainly answers critically the description of the hobby. The dark spots on the lower parts are longitudinally disposed. Carrigrohan is wooded and inland-three or four miles up the river from Cork." The Hobby is called a rare summer visitant to England, but very little information is given respecting it as such; it seems not to have been met with in the north of that country, nor in Scotland. THE RED-FOOTED FALCON. Orange-legged Hobby. Falco rufipes, Besecke. Is an extremely rare visitant. ITs occurrence in Ireland was first noticed, in a communication which I made to the Zoological Society of London (in June, 1835), respecting an immature specimen obtained in the county of Wicklow, in the summer of 1832. This bird was preserved for the collection of T. W. Warren, Esq. of Dublin, by whose kindness it was exhibited on that occasion. The specimen was given to Mr. Warren by a gentleman who shot it in his yard, just as it had pounced at a pigeon of at least its own size, which, with the hawk, fell dead at the one discharge. In March, 1833, Mr. W. S. Wall, bird preserver, mentioned to me, that he had in October, 1830, received a hobby in a fresh state, from Ballyveolan, |