290 M. Menzbier on the Birds of European 



Kursk. It was formerly a commou breeding bird in the 

 Government of Podolsk^ where it has become rare during the 

 last twenty-five years ; but it is only a rare and accidental 

 visitor to Litva, and, according to Mr. Taczanovsky, has 

 never been obtained in Poland. In the steppes of New 

 Russia and in the Crimea this bird is rare, being resident 

 there in the mountains and on the southern coast of the 

 Crimea. 



Mr. Seebohm, on the authority of Mr, Henke, states 

 that the Saker Falcon has been once obtained near Arch- 

 angel in winter, and breeds on the Kanin peninsula. But this 

 is without doubt a mistake ; accoi"ding to Mr. Meves the 

 Brown Jer-Falcon'^ breeds on the Kanin peninsula, and it is 

 very possible that Mr. Henke has taken the young specimen 

 of the Brown Jer-Falcon for the Saker. 



LiTHOFALCO jESALON. 



The Merlin breeds regularly throughout the northern, and 

 occasionally in the central portions of Russia ; but on migra- 

 tion and during the winter it has been observed in the whole 

 southern half of that country. 



According to Mr. Mela it breeds in all parts of Lapland 

 and Finland, from the Gulf of Finland to the Varanger 

 Fiord; but there it is rare southwards from lat. 62^°. It is 

 more common near the Ladoga Lake, in the country near 

 the Onega Lake and on the Dvina, and was fouudby Messrs. 

 Seebohm and Harvie-Brown in the valley of the Lower 

 Pechora (on migration it is there very common near Ust- 

 Zylma, lat. 65° 26') . In the Ural Mountains at present we 

 know its breeding-range only as far north as lat. 57°, but 

 without doubt it will be found there still further north. It 

 breeds in the district of Ekaterinburg (in the Government of 

 Perm), and probably also in the Governments of Kazan and 

 Riazan. It breeds and is not uncommon in the Govern- 

 ments of Vologda, Jaroslav, Vladimir, Moscow, Tver, and 

 Pskov, and rarely in the Government of St. Petersburg and in 



* I think it more likely that the lightly-coloured eastern rcpreseutative 

 of H. yyrfalco — H, uralensis — breed; (jn the Kanin peninsula. 



