132 MERLIN. 



pinnacle, and on the approach of an intruder, 

 gives notice by his very shrill cries and rapid 

 flight around ; he is wary, and unless when the 

 young are hatched, does not come within range. 

 I have never seen the nest in any otner situation 

 than that above described ; never on trees, as 

 mentioned by some writers, Temminck, &c. and 

 who acknowledge their information to be derived 

 from others. It is, however, probable, that in a 

 country much wooded, a change of situation may 

 be chosen. I have frequently found from one to 

 three eyries in a forenoon's walk over a country 

 which they frequented. They keep healthy in 

 confinement with ordinary care to their food and 

 cleanliness ; become tame, but not familiar ; and 

 form a beautiful addition to a collection. 



The adult plumage of the male is very rich. 

 The head, back, shoulders, secondaries, rump, 

 and base of the tail, are a fine blackish grey, very 

 deep on the crown, and having there, and on the 

 back or rump, the feathers marked along their 

 shafts with a streak of black ; the back of the 

 neck is reddish orange, having the centres of the 

 feathers greyish black ; the auricular feathers are 

 yellowish white, tinted with rufous,, marked with 

 greyish black along the shafts, and at their pos- 

 terior tips are nearly of that colour entirely ; a 

 pale streak passes over each eye, stretches over the 

 auriculars, and sometimes joins the rufous part on 



