THE MERLIN 271 



living, though sometimes when the quarry soars 

 as a Lark will very exciting flights ensue, 

 pursuer as well as pursued sometimes passing out 

 of the vision of the naked eye. Nevertheless, in 

 the long run the conclusion of the chase is the 

 same the Lark succumbs. Occasionally a victim, 

 as for example the downy young of Snipe or 

 Plover which are then quite incapable of flight, 

 is snatched off the ground. 



During winter the Merlin may be met with on 

 enclosed lands, and down-country generally. 

 Even the covert-shooter may then recognize its 

 slim, thoroughbred form. Except when seen over 

 down or common, the Merlin seems out of place 

 in such situations, situations it selects perforce, 

 since, with few exceptions, the small birds its 

 daily bread have then migrated from the moors 

 to more congenial quarters. With the approach 

 of spring, however, it follows the flocks of 

 Meadow - Pipits and parties of newly-arrived 

 Wheatears back to the breeziness of the bracing 

 uplands, where its methods and mode of life are 

 thoroughly in keeping with the hills and the 

 heather. There in those sunless solitudes its low 

 and rapid flight is of times the sole sign of life, 

 there frequently the Merlin's ringing cry alone 

 breaks the intense silence of the summer-noon. 



By mid- April at latest, and often as much as 

 six weeks sooner, the Merlins are back on the 

 moors, each pair in its ancestral domain, though, 



