Northern Observations of Inland Birds 143 



the brambles. Again I put it up, again it followed the 

 same tactics, and so on time after time till in the end it 

 reluctantly abandoned its quarry in the depths of a thorn 

 thicket, from which I had great difficulty in extricating 

 it, while the hawk sat on a neighbouring rock and watched. 



On another occasion I was one day driving a semi- 

 racing car over a straight moorland road in West York- 

 shire when a merhn rose from the ditch at the roadside, 

 and proceeded to fly along ahead of the car, skimming 

 a foot or so above the ditch. It was flying without effort, 

 and glancing at the speedometer I noticed that it registered 

 just over thirty miles per hour. It occurred to me to 

 test the speed of the little hawk, so keeping one foot on 

 the accelerator pedal I watched the dial and the bird 

 alternatively. Forty — forty-five — fifty — still the hawk was 

 flying in the same effortless manner, save that the slashings 

 of its wings were more rapid, and still it kept exactly 

 the same distance from the car, adapting its speed to 

 that of the pursuer, like a hunted hare. We pushed on 

 till the speedometer reading was up to sixty-seven miles 

 per hour, at which the car became somewhat unmanageable. 

 As we decelerated the hawk sped on and left us, finally 

 dipping over the wall and vanishing from view. It had 

 easily maintained the aforementioned speed, be it noted, 

 in spite of the fact that it was scrupulously following the 

 peculiarities of the ditch, swerving or rising to avoid the 

 stone-breaker's heaps of granite or other obstacles and 

 inequalities met en route. It was on the same road, 

 namely, between Pateley Bridge and Hebden Village, that 

 I timed a snipe as described in the chapter devoted to 

 that bird. 



Gamekeepers have often told me that the speed of the 

 merlin's flight is very deceptive. They say that one 

 must be a quick and excellent shot to bag a merlin as 

 it rises from its nest, for though the bird's flight conveys 



