MERLIN. 135 



and a quarter inches. The plumage of the first 

 year in this sex does not vary much ; a greater 

 share of rufous on the upper parts, and the margins 

 of the feathers more broadly marked, are the most 

 prominent distinctions. 



The geographical range of the Merlin has gene 

 rally been considered to extend to North America, 

 but we have never received or seen a specimen 

 of the true bird from that country. The speci- 

 mens which have been sent to us as such we con- 

 sider to be the adult state of the Falco columbanus^ 

 and they also agree with the bird figured anc 

 described by Mr Audubon under the title of " Le 

 petit Caporal." Now we have no description of 

 the adult male F. columbarium under- that name. 

 Mr Audubon's account of the male has all the 

 indications of having been taken from an imma- 

 ture bird ; and we think it more than probable 

 that this may have been confounded for the Mer- 

 lin, and from hence its extended range has been 

 supposed, while, in reality, the European bird 

 does not exist at all in the New World. 



The figure in the Northern Zoology may have 

 been taken from a female F. columbarius. 



