ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE HOBBY IN IRELAND.
By the Editor.
When the late Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, published his 'Natural History of Ireland,' now more than five and twenty years ago, he evidently had some doubt as to the propriety of including the Hobby, Falco subbuteo, amongst the birds of his own country, and, with that accuracy which always characterized him, and which has rendered his work even to the present day the most reliable text-book on Irish Ornithology, he contented himself with the statement that it "has once at least been obtained in Ireland."
The specimen referred to was shot, as he informs us, at Carrigrohan, near Cork, in the summer of 1822 (?), and a coloured drawing made at the time subsequently showed that the species had been correctly identified.
On referring to Prof. Newton's edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' now in course of publication, I find that only one other Irish specimen is noticed (vol.i. p. 66), namely, one in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, which was shot in June, 1867, in the county of Tipperary. As I am enabled to give the particulars of the capture of this specimen, and have notes on the occurrence in Ireland of three or four others, I think it may be as well to record them.
The last-mentioned bird was shot on the 6th June, 1867, while hawking for flies over the river at Moulfield, Clonmell, the seal of Mr. John Bagwell.Mr. H.B. Murray, of Heywood, Clonmell, who noticed the fact in 'The Field' of June 15lh, 1867, and subsequently in 'The Field' of July 10th, 1869, remarked that the stomach of this bird contained nothing but the remains of small beetles and large flies—a circumstance fully confirmatory of what is known respecting the food and habits of this species.
Five years previously—namely, in May, 1862—a female Hobby was shot by the late Mr. Hall Dare's gamekeeper at Newtown Barry, County Wexford, and a male bird which was in company with it escaped. The pair had been observed to frequent a small fir wood in the neighbourhood, and in all probability would have nested there had they been allowed to remain undisturbed. This circumstance, which had been briefly mentioned in 'The Field' of the 20lh December, 1862, was noticed in more detail by the late Edward Newman in 'The Field' of the 2ist February, 1863.
