412 Mr. C. Farman on some of the Birds of Prey 



There is little or no difference between the markings of the large 

 and small end. 



Falco peregrinus, Grael. Peregrine Falcon. 



Commoner than either of the two preceding species, but they 

 evidently choose very secure and secluded spots for their nests. 

 I have only once had the good fortune to take their eggs ; in 

 this instance the nest was placed in a large tree at no great dis- 

 tance from Kialdery, and it had all the appearance of being an 

 old nest of Aguila imperialis. Placed in the fork of a tree, it 

 had been so much knocked about by the wind and weather that 

 it was no longer in a horizontal position, but sloped at an angle 

 of about twenty degrees from the horizon. It was very large 

 and almost flat ; and the wonder was how the eggs kept in it at 

 all. It was formed of large coarse sticks, lined with a few 

 smaller ones, and contained four eggs, which, although taken so 

 late as the 2nd of May, were but slightly incubated. 



Falco subbuteg, Linn. Hobby. 



This elegant little bird, excepting only the Kestrel, in Central 

 Bulgaria is undoubtedly the commonest of all the hawks. It 

 is to be met with in all parts of the country, but it appears to 

 be partial to the barren moors to the eastward of Shumla. In 

 the autumn they seem to be more plentiful than at any other 

 time of the year. The Quail, to which they appear to be par- 

 ticularly partial, may perhaps attract them to this locality at 

 this particular season of the year. 



Falco ^salon, Linn. Merlin. 



In this part of the world the Merlin is extremely rare, though 

 I hear from the natives that it is abundant on the Asiatic side 

 of the Black Sea, where, they inform me, the Turkish sports- 

 men use it for taking the Quail, I have only once seen a spe- 

 cimen of this bird alive : it was sitting on a stone, earnestly 

 watching some small birds, on a piece of cultivated ground j all 

 at once it started off in pursuit of one of them, which at last 

 took shelter in some bushes ; during this chase I managed to 

 get close to it, and when it again seated itself on another stone 

 it was almost within shot of me ; again it went off in chase of 



