90 
lines, in length, by one inch, three lines in breadth, mottled all 
over with two shades of reddish brown.” 
Mr. Hewitson tell us, that in England, the eggs have usual- 
ly been found, deposited on the ground, chiefly upon those 
extensive heathy moors, which abound towards the north. On 
the continent of Kurope, however, they are known to breed on 
trees; and Mr. Hewitson himself found a nest in Norway “ near 
the top of a spruce fir,” which appeared to have been newly made 
by the birds themselves, and not to be a repaired nest, originally 
the tenement (as is so common in the case of the Hobbies) of some 
other species. The nest was outwardly composed of sticks, thick- 
ly lined with wool. “The Merlin,” he adds,“‘can searcely be said 
to make a nest, when it deposits its eggs upon the ground, lay- 
ing them either upon the bare heather, or on a small quantity 
of dry grass. ‘They are four or five in number,” they seem to 
be usually of a deep dingy red, “smaller, browner, and less 
bright in colour”’ than those of the Kestrel,“ very closely freckled, 
not spotted, and thickly sprinkled over with small black dots.” 
Varieties remarkable for their deep red brown vinous colouring, 
and others with pure white grounds, thickly blotched with crim- 
son red, also, as he notices, occur, and I remember to have seen 
‘many intermediate types of colouration, in Huropean cabinets. 
The eggs are of the usual Falcon type, broad, oval, slightly 
compressed towards one end, and one I have from Europe mea- 
sures 1°6 by 1:25. 
Of a male, shot near Hoshiarpoor ; I have the following note : 
“ Comparatively short wings ; notch asin Severus, but on both, 
the two first quills, asin Chiquera. ‘The 2nd and 3rd quills sub- 
equal; wing,; tail5. The bird is a rich deep brown above, deepest 
towards the head; the feathers of the head, having still deeper 
central brown stripes; the scapulars, many of the wing coverts, 
and the quills, have rich rufous brown, irregular, and imper- 
fect, transverse bars, extending as spots, on to the outer webs 
of the primaries. The tail, with five broad, transverse, rufous 
bars; (one hidden by the upper tail coverts) tip rufous white. 
An indistinct yellowish, imperfect collar round the base of the 
neck. Bull, very small, and feeble, as compared with Severus, 
Subbuteo, and Chiquera, which are all about equally strong. 
The Merlin seems to be found all over Hurope, in Malta, 
Egypt, (Lower,) Palestine, Kandehar, and, according to Mr. 
Swinhoe, in Pekin, Amoy, and Foochow. 
