136 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



local, and ^\i\\ return to the same patch of hill-side year 

 after year, however much disturbed it may have been in 

 previous seasons. Each pair appropriates a very con- 

 siderable stretch of country, and I have never known 

 nests at anything but a long distance from each other. 

 Although its numbers are severely kept down by the 

 gun and the traps of the keeper, an immediate increase 

 takes place in the event of any relaxation of the pressure. 

 The Merlin breeds rather later than the other hawks, 

 and the middle or end of May is quite soon enough for 

 eggs. Its nest is simply a depression scratched in the 

 soil, and filled with what moss and dead twigs happen 

 to be close by, so as to make a little i)latform, and the 

 sitting bird, which is very often the male, breaks off all 

 the twigs from the heather growing within reach, and 

 gathers them together to form a slight rim. The eggs 

 are three or four in number, and being usually laid 

 among tall heather, and hidden b}- overhanging branches, 

 are not at all easy to discover. The food of this species 

 consists mostly of beetles, mice, and small birds. 



[On the Continent the Merlin frequently deposits its 

 eggs in old nests built in trees, and it occasionally does 

 so in the British Islands. The following, from Mr. 

 Howard, is interesting, although the locality mentioned 

 is in the next county : — " Mr. Morris, of Sedbergh, tells 

 me that in June 1887, a Merlin took possession of the 

 deserted nest of a Carrion-Crow placed at a height of six 

 feet from the ground in a thorn-bush on Firbank Fell, 

 near Kendal. The gamekeeper shot both old birds and 

 took the young in Morris's presence." — Ed.] 



