THE MERLIN. 117 



In a partially enclosed country it flies low but 

 rapidly when foraging for prey, and I have more 

 than once seen it exhibit great skill in masking 

 its approach on such occasions ; skirting some 

 thick hedge or high bank for a considerable way, 

 at the other side of which it had apparently 

 marked a party of larks or starlings feeding in an 

 open field. On scuds the little hawk, and so 

 accurately does he calculate his distance, that 

 when he arrives opposite the spot where the birds 

 are regaling in fancied security, he suddenly 

 drops over the fence and strikes a victim in a 

 moment. 



I once observed a female of this species at 

 Kelsom Moor, near Petworth, when the heath was 

 covered with snow, skimming along under the 

 brow of a hill, so close to the ground as almost to 

 touch her own shadow, strongly cast as it was 

 and well defined by the sunshine on the white 

 surface. She continued this course for some 

 time, and then, suddenly veering to the left, rose 

 rapidly above a clump of holly-bushes and made 

 a dash at a flock of redwings which were feasting 

 on the coral-like bunches of berries that covered 

 the branches, but missing her swoop, she soon 

 singled out a bird for a fresh experiment, and 

 as if ashamed of her former system of tactics, had 

 recourse at once to open warfare, pressing her 



