118 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



quarry so severely that it was obliged to mount 

 aloft, its only chance of escape being to keep 

 above its pursuer ; but all in vain ; it proved less 

 expert at this manoeuvre than the lark, or even 

 the snipe, and after a short flight was clutched by 

 the merlin, who, as she came over my head in her 

 rapid descent towards a rough, broken part of the 

 moor at a little distance, appeared scarcely larger 

 than the bird in her talons. 



I have observed this species during the winter 

 in the neighbourhood of the coast at Pagham and 

 Selsey, and on the Downs eastward of Brighton ; 

 it has been killed near Hastings, Uckfield and 

 Eye, and has occurred in other parts of the 

 county. I once met with an immature specimen 

 at Upwaltham, on the hills between Petworth 

 and Chichester, as early as October, but this I 

 consider an unusual occurrence. Adult males* are 

 exceedingly rare, almost all that I have examined 

 were females, or birds of the year, and I have 

 not been able to ascertain that it ever breeds in 

 this county. 



I cannot refrain from introducing here an epi- 



* In Kortli Wales young merlins are called stone- 

 falcons, a term which Mr. Yarrell informs ns should be 

 restricted to the old males. In Sussex it is generally 

 applied to male sparrowhawks during the winter. 



