MERLE—MERLIN 545 
to JM. serrator, but much more darkly coloured ; and Jf. australis, 
Hombron and Jacquemont (dnn. Sc. Nat. Zoologie, ser. 2, xvi. p. 
320 ; Voy. au Pol Sud, Orseaux, pl. 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 (/bis, 1875, p. 392), obtained two other specimens, and 
gave one to the British Museum (Proc. 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 
Merginx or the Erismaturine—the Spiny-tailed Ducks proper—is a 
question that further investigation must decide. 
MERLE, the French name of the BLAckprrp (Lat. Merula), 
perhaps introduced by the Normans, but scarcely used now as 
English except in fiction. 
MERLIN, Old Eng. Maruin and MArRLIon 3 Old Fr. Esmerillon 
Meruin. (After Wolf.) 
and Smirlon, Mod. Fr. Emerillon,) the Falco xsalon of Tunstall, 
1 The Icelandic Smiril7 (a comparatively modern word, as Mr. Eirtkr Mag- 
nusson tells me), the German Schmer] and corresponding words in Italian, 
Spanish and Portuguese are all evidently cognate with the French, the root 
being the Latin Merula as in MERLE. 
35 
