A NEW CONFEDERATE. 123 



and angry shrieks, at what he evidently considered 

 a breach of our compact. 



After my third or fourth visit to those bogs the 

 merlin was always there to receive me, and was 

 subsequently joined by a companion, a female, 

 both of them continuing to attend me in all my 

 snipe-shooting expeditions on that side of the 

 country. Sometimes, at the very commencement 

 of the day's sport, I might perhaps be unaccom- 

 panied by my little friends, but the first report of 

 my gun was generally sufficient to summon one or 

 both of them to my presence, and a wounded 

 snipe, however slightly touched by the shot, had 

 no chance of escape from their united efforts. 

 First one would rise above it in a succession of 

 circular gyrations for he was unable to ascend 

 in such a direct line as the snipe then he would 

 make a swoop, and if he missed, his companion, 

 who in the mean time had been working upwards 

 in a similar manner, would next try her luck, and 

 in this manner they would pursue the quarry, un- 

 til the persecuted bird, unable to ascend higher 

 or any longer avoid the fatal stroke, was at last 

 clutched by one of the little falcons, while the 

 other would hasten to " bind to it," and all three 

 descend together into the bog. After a perform- 

 ance of this sort an hour would occasionally elapse 

 before the return of either of the merlins 



G2 



