MERLIN. 



193 



Family FALCONID.E. Genus Falco. 



Sub-family FALCONIN^-E. 



MERLIN. 



Falco vE salon {Bn'ssou). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, May. 



British breeding area: The Merlin only breeds 

 very locally south of the Peak in Derbyshire, on 

 Exmoor, and in Wales. From the southern spurs of 

 the Pennine Chain it becomes more widely and gener- 

 ally distributed throughout the moorland districts of 

 England and Scotland, west to the Outer Hebrides, and 

 north to the Orkneys and Shetlands. In Ireland it is 

 equally common in the moorland districts. 



Breeding habits : The Merlin is a regular bird of 

 passage, in the sense that it leaves its upland breeding- 

 haunts in autumn for the more low-lying districts, 

 returning to them in April. As the favourite breeding- 

 places are tenanted yearly, there can be little doubt 

 that the Merlin pairs for life ; it has also repeatedly 

 been remarked that in places where the birds have been 

 shot season after season, a new pair of birds take 

 possession of the favourite site. The Merlin is not a 

 social bird, but several nests may not unfrequently be 

 met with on a comparatively small area of ground. 

 The breeding-haunts of this Falcon are on the heathery 

 moors, the haunt of the Red Grouse, the Twite., and the 

 Ring Ouzel. The site for the nest is usually on the 

 rough ground among heather and ling, a spot on a 

 sloping eminence commanding a good look-out, or on 

 the rock-strewn earth at the foot of a low range of cliffs. 

 In Scotland, however, the Merlin is said occasionally to 

 select an old nest of some other bird in a tree— but this 



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