MEELIN 



211 



Merlin. 

 Falco sesalon. 



Pig. 71. — Merlin, i natural size. 



Upper parts 



greyish blue; under 

 parts reddish yellow 

 with longitudinal 

 dark brown spots ; 

 tail barred with 

 black ; beak bluish, 

 darker at the tip ; 

 cere yellow ; iris 

 dark brown ; feet 

 yeUow ; claws black. 

 Female : upper parts 

 tinged with brown ; 

 lower parts yellow- 

 ish white. Length, 

 eleven to twelve 

 inches. 



The merlin is a 

 third less than the 

 peregrine in size, and 



has the distinction of being the smallest of the British birds of prey, 

 But in courage it is second to none, and Yarrell relates an instance 

 in which this small bird, weighing itself no more than six ounces, 

 struck down and killed a partridge twice as heavy. It is a resident 

 throughout the year of the British Islands, from the north of 

 Yorkshire to the Shetlands, and the mountainous parts of Ireland. 



The merlin is an inhabitant of the moors and mountains, and 

 nests on the ground among the tail heather. The eggs are laid in a 

 slight hollow with little or no lining, and are four or five in number, 

 smaller than those of the kestrel, but similar in colour. It some- 

 times, but very rarely, breeds in the nest of a carrion crow or other 

 bird, in a tree. 



It preys chiefly on small birds, and it was formerly trained to 

 pursue snipe, pigeons, larks, blackbirds, (fee. 



