170 A HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 
cheeks and moustache black; breast and sides of body broadly 
streaked with black ; thighs and under tail-coverts ferruginous ; 
bill blackish-slate ; cere, orb legs and feet yellow; irides 
dark brown. Length 11.5 to 12 inches; culmen 07; wing 
AG 70.77; tail-5"5 to.6's tarsus 128. 
Adult Female: Rather larger, otherwise similar to the 
male. 
Immature Birds: Browner above, and most of feathers 
(except on upper part of back) with narrow pale margins, 
broader and more conspicuous on rump and upper tail-coverts ; 
wing-quills narrowly margined with whitish; tail tipped with 
rufescent-white or rufous ; thighs rufescent-buff. 
Distribution: Breeds throughout most of the temperate 
portions of the Palearctic region, wintering in Southern Africa 
and India. 
Habitat: Both wooded districts and more open country. 
MERLIN. 
Falco zesalon Zunstal/. 
Adult Male: Adove slate-blue streaked in centres of feathers 
with black, darker on the head and upper back ; zage feathers 
chiefly xzfous, forming an ill-defined band; wing-quills black- 
ish, barred with white on inner webs; tail-feathers broadly 
barred with black towards their apices, whitish tipped, and all 
(except central pair) barred and mottled with black on inner 
webs ; throat white ; sides of face streaked with black especially 
in malar region ; rest of under parts washed with ferruginous, 
becoming clearer on thighs, and longitudinally marked with 
blackish, less conspicuously so on flanks and anal region ; bill 
bluish, darker at tip; cere, legs and feet yellow ; irides brown. 
Length 10 to 11 inches; culmen oS; wmg 8, tail 5; tarsus 
125. 
Adult Female: Top of head, back, wing-coverts, and 
secondaries dull olive-brown, the shaft of each feather darker ; 
tail-feathers brown, with narrow transverse bars of wood-brown ; 
under surface of the body pale brownish-white, with darker 
brown longitudinal patches ; somewhat superior in size to the 
male. 
Immature Male: Resembles adult female. 
