546 MEROBLASTIC—MESOMYOD1 
in 1771, and ornithologists generally, but the F. lithofalco? of 
some—one of the most beautiful of the Falconide (FALCON) and 
perhaps the boldest of the Accipitres, not hesitating to attack 
birds of twice its own size, and even on occasion threatening 
human beings. Yet it readily becomes tame, if not affectionate, 
when reclaimed, as it often is for Falconry, and its ordinary prey 
consists of the smaller Passeres. Its “pinion of glossy blue” has 
become almost proverbial, and a deep ruddy blush suffuses its 
lower parts; but these are characteristic only of the male—the 
female maintaining very nearly the sober brown plumage she wore 
when as a nestling she left her lowly cradle in the heather. It 
breeds or used to breed commonly on the moors of the northern 
parts of England and on those of Scotland, as well as on the moun- 
tainous districts of Ireland ; but of late years has been much reduced 
in numbers. In winter the young frequent the lower levels in all 
three kingdoms, and strike terror into the small birds that congre- 
gate at that season. Very close to this bird comes the Pigeon- 
Hawk, F. columbarius, of North America—so close, indeed, that 
none but an expert ornithologist can detect the difference. The 
Turumti of Anglo-Indians, F. chicquera, and its representative from 
Southern Africa, F. rujicollis, also belong to this group, but they are 
considerably larger than either of the former. 
MEROBLASTIC, the term applied to the ova of certain Verte- 
brates, including Birds, in which the process of segmentation is 
confined to the germinal disk (see EMBRYOLOGY, p. 196). 
MERRY-WING, a North-American fowler’s name for the 
GOLDEN-EYE. 
MERTYN, an old Scottish spelling of MARTIN. 
MESENTERY, the thin transparent membrane composed of 
layers of connective tissue that holds together the various loops of 
the intestine and other viscera, attaching them to the vertebral 
column where it is continuous with the peritoneal lining of the 
body cavity.” 
MESOBLAST, the middle layer of the three into which the 
blastoderm subdivides (see EMBRYOLOGY, p. 200). 
MESOMYODI, Garrod’s name (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, p. 507), 
for a division of Passerine birds the peculiarities of which were 
first to some extent though not fully appreciated by Johannes 
Miiller (see INTRODUCTION)—“a mesomyodian bird being one in 
which the muscles of the SyRINX join the semi-rings in their 
1 Modern American authors call it Falco (or salon) regulus, a name given 
in 1773 by Pallas (Reise, w.s.w. i. p. 707). 
* This from the common German name Steinfalk. 
