CHAPTER VIII 



ROYAL BLUE 

 (Merlin) 



I HAVE always regarded the merlin as the most per- 

 fectly proportioned of all our wild birds, and the 

 tercel in full spring-time uniform is certainly among 

 the most handsomely coloured. The plumage is not, of 

 course, so dazzlingly resplendent as that of some of the 

 duck family — the kingfisher, the woodpecker, the pheasant, 

 and other gaily attired gentry one might name, but it 

 is in wonderfully good taste, and clearly that of a royal 

 bird. To see this little falcon in full plumage is, indeed, 

 to recognize him at a glance as one of pukka, blue-blooded 

 strain, and though nothing like so fierce and destructive 

 a bird as his big cousin the peregrine, he certainly lives 

 up to his uniform. 



Though the merlin has often been described as nothing 

 more or less than a pocket edition of falco peregrinus, the 

 similarity is apt to be drawn too far, for the two have very 

 few points in common as regards their general habits 

 and habitat. As described in the chapter devoted to that 

 bird, the peregrine is essentially a highwayman, given to 

 waylaying and ambushing his quarry. Where food is 

 plentiful, as for example, about sea cliffs, the peregrine 

 does not hunt at all in the true sense, but is to be seen 

 repeatedly dashing out and causing endless havoc among 

 its neighbours, purely for the sport of the thing. One 

 was noticed to kill over twenty puffins in an hour, not 

 even troubling to pick up the birds from the surf below, 



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