22 



THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



than is necessary or usual with other Hawks. I have 

 often been assured by gamekeepers in Scotland, and 

 on the moors in the north of England, that this 

 species is very destructive to young Grouse, and as 

 all Hawks prefer the quarry which is the easiest to 

 take, I have no doubt that this statement may be 

 true, but here, in our midlands, at all events, the 

 amount of damage done to game by these occasional 



^Merlin, adult male. 



visitors must be infinitesimal, and, as I have repeat- 

 edly urged, the best rule a preserver of game can 

 lay down, in the matter of what gamekeepers call 

 " winged vermin," is to forbid the destruction of any 

 birds except the Sparrow-Hawk and the members of 

 the Crow tribe. The claims of the birds of prey to 

 protection will gain nothing by over-statement, but I 

 am convinced that the more we study their habits 



