Gould wrote 'If an ornithologist were requested to name the most elegant species of Falcon inhabiting the British Islands, he would unquestionably reply, the Hobby; for the proportions of no other raptorial bird are more evenly balanced, or the colours more harmoniously distributed.'

Gould described the Hobby as very graceful; its long pointed wings enabled it to fly long journeys for it was a summer migrant to Britain. It preyed on small swift-flying birds and large insects. Wolf's picture shows a male Hobby with a dragonfly in its claws.

Lance Calkin's portrait of Wolf in 1890 originally showed him holding a cigar in his right hand, but appositely this was replaced by another enthusiasm - a Hobby (Introduction, p.VII).

DISTRIBUTION: Breeds in much of Europe and Asia. Winters in southern Africa, India and southeast Asia. In Britain more widely distributed than previously realised; probably about 500-900 pairs breeding at present