FALCONID.^. 103 



Mr. R. B. Sharpe informed me that the Merlin has 

 occasionally been observed in the neighbourhood of 

 Cookham ; and he has received the eggs from Woburn 

 a village about two miles to the north-east of Cook- 

 ham. At Billing Bare, which is some ten miles from 

 Cookham, Mr. Briggs has noticed that it was not 

 uncommon, and he was once witness to a remarkable 

 instance of this bird's audacity. He was standing near 

 a thick bush on the Billing Bare estate, when a Chaf- 

 finch dashed into the thicket, closely pursued by a 

 male Merlin. Nothing daunted by his presence, the 

 hawk as quickly followed, and, dragging the unfor- 

 tunate Chaffinch out, was carrying it off, when a 

 well-aimed shot from Mr. Briggs put an end to his 

 career. In this case the Chaffinch was quite dead, 

 perhaps killed by the shot ; but Mr. Briggs stated 

 that in many instances when he had seen hawks 

 flying with a bird in their talons, and had fired at 

 them — though far out of shot — in order to make 

 them drop their prey, he had seen the birds fly away 

 unhurt when released by the hawk. 



Mr. Frank Collins, of Wantage, informed me of the 

 occurrence of a Merlin near Wantage, in the month 

 of October 1867 ; his brother shot it, and had it 

 preserved. A bird-stuffer in Windsor told me that 

 he had had several specimens from various parts of 

 the county of Berkshire ; and Mr. Hasell informed 

 me that a fine male was brought to him in the 

 summer of 1867, which had been shot by a person 

 at White Waltham. 



