The Merlin.-] OF OllKNEY. • ^9 



which he picked up, and found the entrails drove out of it by 

 the force of the blo\v. 



It is wonderful to observe at what a distance the small birds 

 know this hawk, and with what anxiety they shun him ; when 

 pursued often running themselves into more certain danger ; 

 bushes, caves, houses, even the bosom of their general enemy, 

 Man, is then an asylum, though often trying to save their 

 lives, they more certainly lose them. 



Species 9. — The Merlin. 



JVil. Orn. 85. RaiiSyn. Av. 15. Brit. Zool. 153. Sib. Scot. 15. Mer- 

 lin, the female ; Jack, the male. Accipiter ^salon. 



Often seen skimming along the fields in search of prey ; 

 flies low ; and, like the former, kills its prey with a stroke of 

 its wing, and sometimes nimbly whips a small bird from the 

 ground, and immediately makes off with it ; remarkably te- 

 nacious of its prey, seldom willing to part with it ; to preserve 

 it will catch it in its claws, and fly as well as it can, even 

 though with a pigeon, moorfowl, or other bird heavier than 

 itself. All the merlin s motions are quick, its turnings and 

 windings so much so, that they can scarce be followed with 

 the eye. It is full of spirit ; when wounded (if not mortally), 

 fights with bill and claws, and if it hits seldom fails to fetch 

 the blood. In a word, though among the least, it is the 

 briskest among the hawk kind in these islands. 



