THE MERLIN 277 



tion, the weather, and the actions of the non-sitting 

 bird depend not a little as to how close a Merlin 

 sits. On an average the species is a " tight " sitter, 

 sometimes indeed waiting to be kicked off almost 

 under foot, while I have heard of one instance 

 emanating from a first-class and truthful ornitholo- 

 gist of a brooding Merlin being actually caught by 

 hand. It is only fair to add, though, that it was 

 a peculiarly stormy day. Usually, however, as you 

 tramp the heather out in sections, clapping and 

 shouting at intervals, the bird flutters off quite 

 awkwardly especially the female, who neither is, 

 nor looks, so slim or debonair as her partner 

 from ten to twenty -five yards ahead or to one side. 

 Occasionally, of course, one will leave her eggs 

 while you are still as much as from fifty to seventy 

 yards away. 



On first being flushed a sitting Merlin flies low 

 and guiltily for some little way and not very fast, 

 then it gradually mounts the air on a slant when, 

 increasing its speed considerably, at a fair elevation 

 it cuts out widish circles which are often of the 

 switch-back order, the bird petulantly flinging itself 

 down for some few yards and diving through the 

 air in curves. Both birds do this, perhaps together, 

 perhaps one by itself (the other having sheered off), 

 and both are apt to vent their displeasure in shrill, 

 chattering cries. The usual cry, common to both 

 sexes though pitched in rather different keys, is a 

 mournful but penetrating and rapid chatter of 



