AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 19 



6. MERLIN. 



Falco cesalon. 



This bird is one of the only three raptorial species 

 mentioned by Morton in his ' Natural History of 

 Northamptonshire ' in the following words : " The 

 Merlin, which is credibly reported to breed with us 

 upon Draughton Heath." Sir Charles Isham has 

 kindly favoured me with an extract from the Diary of 

 Sir Thomas Isham, of Lamport, translated from the 

 original Latin by the Rev. R. Isham, which states : 

 "Aug. 5, 1672, Clerk's son found a Merlin Hawk in 

 its nest at a place called Haybrig." The Merlin was 

 probably more generally known in those days than at 

 present, as it was often used in Falconry, and as there 

 was then a great deal of unenclosed and uncultivated 

 land in the county, well suited to its breeding-habits, 

 I see no cause to doubt the correctness of either of 

 the above statements. So far as my own observation 

 goes, the Merlin is now a pretty regular autumnal 

 visitor to this part of the county. I have often seen 

 it in this immediate neighbourhood in the months of 

 October and November, and shot a young female 

 close to this house whilst she was hovering over a 

 hooded Falcon, which I had just placed upon a low 

 wall, as I exercised another at the lure, on October 5, 

 1860. I well remember my father shooting a fine 

 adult male of this species in Southern Wood many 

 years ago, and there is a specimen in the same 

 state of plumage in the collection at Wadenhoe that 

 was killed at Bearshank Wood about 1872. There 

 is a stuffed specimen of the Merlin at Bulwick Park, 

 which was shot there, and besides those which I have 



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