MERLE— MERLIN 



545 



to M. serrator, but much more darkly coloured ; and M. australis, 

 Hombron and Jacquemont (Ann. Sc. Nat. Zoologie, ser. 2, xvi. p. 

 320 ; Voy. an Pol Snd, Oiseaux, pi. 31, fig. 2), long known only by the 

 unique example in the Museum of Paris procured by the French 

 Antarctic expedition in the Auckland Islands ; but of which Baron A. 

 von Hiigel (Ibis, 1875, p. 392), obtained two other specimens, and 

 gave one to the British Museum (Froc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 1), and 

 the other to that of the University of Cambridge. This last species 

 may perhaps be found to visit New Zealand. 



Often associated with the Mergansers is the genus Merganetta, 

 the so-called Torrent-Ducks of South America, of which three species 

 are said to exist ; but they possess spiny tails and have their wings 

 armed with a spur. Whether they should be referred to the 

 Merginsti or the Erismaturinai — the Sijiny-tailed Ducks proper — is a 

 question that further investigation must decide. 



MEELE, the French name of the Blackbird (Lat. Merula), 

 perhaps introduced by the Normans, but scarcely used now as 

 English except in fiction. 



MERLIN, Old Eng. Marlin and Marlion ; Old Fr. EsmeriUon 



Merlin. (After Wolf.) 



and Smirhn, Mod. Fr. Evierillmi,'^ the Falco xsalon of Tunstall, 



^ The Icelandic Smirill (a comparatively modem word, as Mr. Eirikr ilag- 

 uussou tells me), the German Schmerl and corresponding words in Italian, 

 Spanish and Portuguese are all evidently cognate with the French, the root 

 being the Latin Merulu as in Merle. 



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