0?i Moorlands and Roughs. 59 



found the Merlin to be fairly common throughout 

 the moors of North Derbyshire and South York- 

 shire. It is ruthlessly persecuted by the gamekeeper, 

 and its numbers consequently have declined almost 

 to the vanishing point in not a few districts. We 

 never saw much of the Merlin on the moors between 

 Castleton and Sheffield before April. There are 

 many favourite haunts on these moors in which the 

 bird may be found breeding every summer; and 

 curiously enough, although pair after pair may be 

 destroyed, others come and settle in the district the 

 followinor season. We are olad to be able to record 

 that the bird has not been so severely hunted down 

 in one or two places, and consequently its numbers 

 seem to be on the increase. The spirited dash of 

 this pretty little Falcon is not exceeded by that of 

 the Pereofrine itself. Times without number have 

 we witnessed its fatal chase of the smaller birds of 

 the moor — Twites, Ring-ouzels, Meadow Pipits, 

 and less frequently of Plovers, Grouse, and occa- 

 sionally Cuckoos. In the higher valley of the Rive- 

 lin, we once watched an exciting chase by this bird 

 of a Common Sandpiper, which had been flushed 

 from the heath-clad bank of one of the reservoirs 

 at Hollow Meadows. Pursuer and pursued strove 

 their utmost, the Sand[)iper doubling, rising, and 

 turning from side to side, and the relentless Merlin 

 following closely every movement as though each 



