THE BIRDS OF PREY. 217 



dozen have been recorded. In Scotland, it has been 

 obtained but three times; in Ireland, but once. 



The Merlin is our smallest falcon. Its tail has a broad 

 black band just above the white tip ; and it breeds in the 

 northern moors of England, as well as in the 

 higher districts of Scotland and Ireland. In 

 winter, it may be seen at the coast chasing the smaller 

 waders ; but during the breeding season it is noticed, as a 

 rule, perched motionless on some rocky boulder. It is not 

 a rapid flier, so that there may possibly be some foundation 

 for the charge, often preferred against it, of robbing nests 

 of the newly hatched young. Eggs (laid in a depression 

 in the earth), 4 to 6, i^ inch; deep red. The bird has 

 been known, though rarely, to lay in deserted nests. 



The Kestrel, distinguished from the smaller merlin 

 by the reddish hue of the back, which is covered with 

 Kestrel or ^^ ac ^ spots, is our commonest bird of prey, 

 " Wind- and its peculiar motionless hovering is as well 

 hover." known on the country-side as is the far-reach- 

 ing, not unpleasing, cry. Its food consists almost entirely 

 of mice, so that its persecution is wanton folly. It lays its 

 eggs in old nests of crows or other like birds, or occasion- 

 ally on the bare earth. Eggs, 4 to 6, if inch ; yellowish, 

 with deep red spots and blotches. 



Lesser Kestrel. A straggler from Southern Europe, 

 which has been recorded but three times in York, in 

 Kent, and near Dublin. 



The Osprey is practically a winter visitor to the greater 

 portion of these islands, though it still breeds in a few 



Highland lochs. In the winter months it 

 t Osprey. . , ._. n 



occurs almost annually on the Broads and 



other inland waters; and it has been recorded recently 

 hawking over the joint estuary of the Hampshire Stour 

 and Avon, below Christchurch. The breast is white, with 

 a brow r n band. It feeds almost entirely on mullet, salmon, 



