140 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



but so far as my own observations go, merlins are not 

 given to this sort of thing. 



I have more than once watched them seize their prey, 

 but I have never known one to abandon anything that 

 it killed. A peregrine will dart forth and kill for the 

 sake of killing, whereas the merlin, when satisfied, 

 will sit motionless for a long period, and small birds 

 and game may perch quite near to it without the 

 least danger of attack. When hungry again the little 

 hawk skims off, flying low, in search of fresh fare, and 

 I have noticed that it generally flies some little distance 

 ere it stoops, though larks may be everywhere numerous. 

 It would seem, indeed, that the birds living next door 

 to the merlin are quite safe from attack, for in West 

 Yorkshire I have known ring-ousels and starlings to nest 

 and safely to rear their young on a low crag where a 

 merlin was nesting. When the young hawks were hatched 

 the parents could be seen constantly flying back and forth 

 feeding the brood, while the other birds of the cliff, heed- 

 less of their presence, were doing the same thing. These 

 two birds doubtless killed a large number of ring-ousels 

 and starlings, yet their immediate neighbours, even the 

 young birds perched on the shelves below, they evidently 

 regarded as part of the furnishings — or at any rate in a 

 neighbourly spirit. 



The stoop of the peregrine, described elsewhere, is 

 characteristic in its violence and immeasurable speed, 

 but I have never seen a merlin stoop from any great height, 

 neither have I met anyone who has. As a rule it does 

 not stoop at all, but clutches its quarry as it flies. Its 

 method is hotly to pursue its victim, following every twist 

 and turn, finally overhauling and clutching it in the 

 air instead of striking it to earth. 



In dealing with larger and heavier birds the merlin 

 certainly adopts peregrine tactics, but on a very different 



