274 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



of the selected carpet of heather. This point 

 when you have realized it greatly simplifies the 

 finding of a " nest " in a big area of ground. 

 Therefore, when seeking the home of the Merlin, 

 first try the margins of the heather ' ' fields ' ' or 

 patches, working in up to say thirty yards from 

 their outskirts. At all events and these may be 

 taken as fair samples of the five eyries I saw 

 in 1907 four were under ten yards from the edge 

 of the chosen heather, the fifth being little further 

 afield ; while, in 1912, out of a similar number of 

 nests with eggs examined, three were under five 

 yards from a track or open space, the other two 

 being respectively about fifteen and thirty paces, 

 the one from a sort of wide ditch, the other from 

 a stone wall. Moreover, other two ' nests " 

 which had previously been robbed (incidentally, a 

 Merlin will often brood at intervals in its eyrie for 

 a fortnight after it has been robbed) were individu- 

 ally close to a stream with rather high banks 

 inciding the moor and an open green patch of 

 ground. Some eyries are -it seems purposely 

 at the roots of a bunch of rank heather 

 conspicuously taller than its surroundings. 



Hard by nearly all nests are found the " killing- 

 places," indeed they are seldom more than thirty 

 yards distant, generally closer, though this fact 

 by no means complies with the dogmatic views 

 expressed by " w^eek-end " naturalists, who have 

 probably seen but one Merlin's nest in their lives, 



