PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 139 



British Isles the merlin is resident and nests in the Faeroes, and occurs in small 

 numbers during the summer in Iceland, and on the Continent breeds in Scandinavia, 

 Finland and North Kussia. It has been recorded as far north as 69 N. lat. in North- 

 east Russia, but has not been found breeding in the Urals at present north of lat. 

 57, though further observation will no doubt extend its range northward. It 

 rarely breeds as far south as the Baltic provinces, St. Petersburg, Grodno, Chernikov, 

 Smolensk, and N. Tula. According to the older writers it breeds sporadically in 

 Northern Germany, the Alpine districts of Central Europe and the Pyrenees, and 

 this is accepted by Saunders, but modern ornithologists have so far failed to 

 confirm these statements, which must be regarded as requiring confirmation. 

 In Asia it is found across Siberia to Ussuria and even Japan and a light form is 

 said to inhabit the Kirghiz Steppes. In the British Isles it is only partially 

 migratory, but North European birds migrate through Europe to North Africa 

 and the Nile valley to Senaar, while Asiatic birds range southward to North-west 

 India and China. [F. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. A resident, and also an autumn immigrant from Northern 

 Europe. On the approach of winter our home-bred birds come down to the 

 lowland and coastal districts, and the species becomes widely distributed. The 

 autumn passage movements take place between 30th August and 12th November, 

 and are apparent on the Yorkshire coast during the first half of October (cf. Clarke, 

 Studies in Bird Migration, 1912, vol. i. p. 135; and Nelson, B. of Tories., 1907, p. 

 367). There is possibly an autumn immigration from Great Britain to Leinster, 

 but the Irish-bred birds are considered sufficient to account for the numbers seen in 

 the country in winter (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 145). What 

 significance can be attached to the fact that " the proportion of adults to immature 

 birds is unusually great in the basin of the Mediterranean " (Saunders, III. Man. 

 B. B,, 2nd ed., 1899, p. 351) cannot at present be conjectured. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. As a rule the merlin merely scratches out a hollow 

 among heather on a hillside and arranges a few broken stalks of ling round the 

 eggs. It has, however, been known to breed also in old nests of raven (Zoologist, 

 1905, p. 34), and more frequently in those of the carrion crow, while in Scandinavia 

 that of the hooded-crow is sometimes appropriated. Shelves in cliff faces are 

 sometimes used, and Nordling states that a weather-worn woodpecker's hole has 

 been occupied in Finland. In North Wales it has been known to nest in a hollow 

 among the marram grass on sandy ground. (PI. LXIV.) The eggs are usually four or 

 five in number, but clutches of six have been occasionally met with. As a rule, the 



