FALCO. - TINNUNCULUS. 103 



Subluteo a little like a Buteo, q. v. ; as if a translation of Aristotle's 

 (Gesner). 



Breeds throughout temperate Europe and Asia, and winters 

 in South Africa and India. A summer visitor to England, 

 rarer in Scotland, a straggler in Ireland. 



Falco aBsalon. MERLIN. 



Falco ^Esalon, Tunstatt, Ornith. Brit. p. 1 (1771). 



Falco sesalon, Naum. i. p. 303; Macg. iii. p. 317; Hewitson, 

 p. 30; Yarr. ed. 2, i. p. 53 ; id. ed. 3, i. p. 60; Newton, 

 i. p. 74; Gould, i. pi. 19; Harting, p. 4; Dresser, vi. 

 p. 83. 



Hypotriorchis sesalon, Gray, p. 13. 



Merlin, Yarr. ed. 1, i. p. 48. 



JEsalon = auraXwv, a kind of Hawk in Pliny. 



The Merlin is mostly met with as a winter visitant, to 

 Great Britain and Ireland, but it 



moorland districts. It breeds throughout the northern parts 

 of the Old World, migrating south in winter. 



Genus TINNUNCULUS, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. i. p. 39 



(1807). 



Tinnunculus = a kind of Hawk in Pliny; probably from tinnlo = I ring, 

 have a sharp shrill voice, from its bell-like (i. e. monotonous) note. 



Tinnunculus vespertinus. RED-FOOTED FALCON. 

 Falco vespertinus, Linnaeus, S. N. i. p. 129 (1766) . 



Falco rufipes, Naum. i. p. 311; Yarr. ed. 2, i. p. 49 ; id. ed. 3, 



i. p. 56. 

 Falco vespertinus, Macg. iii. p. 313 ; Hewitson, p. 28 ; Newton, 



i. p. 69 ; Harting, p. 86 ; Dresser, vi. p. 93. 

 Tinnunculus vespertinus, Gray, p. 14. 

 Erythropus vespertinus, Gould, i. pi. 20. 

 Red-footed Falcon, Yarr. ed. 1, i. p. 44. 



Vespertinus of the evening, vesper, because described to Linnaeus by G-. de 

 Demidoff as " flying about in the evening and at night." 



