62 FALCONID^. 



Ireland, according to Mr. Thompson, the Merlin is indi- 

 genous in several northern counties. It breeds also in 

 Scotland, in Orkney, and in Shetland : and is included by 

 Muller and M. Nilsson among the birds of Denmark, 

 Sweden, and Norway. It inhabits Germany and France, 

 and from thence southward to the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean. It has been found in Sicily and Malta. Mr. 

 Strickland includes the Merlin among the birds seen by 

 him at Smyrna in the winter of 1835-6; but it was con- 

 sidered rare : it has been found also at Erzeroum and in 

 Egypt as far south as Kordofan. Dr. Andrew Smith ob- 

 tained examples of it in the vicinity of the Cape of Good 

 Hope ; but this last may prove not to be identical with 

 the true Merlin of Europe. 



The Merlin makes its scanty nest on the ground, laying 

 four or five eggs, measuring one inch seven lines in length, 

 by one inch three lines in breadth, mottled all over with 

 two shades of reddish brown. In North Wales, the young 

 birds are called Stone Falcons ; but among Ornithologists 

 the Stone Falcon is considered to be an adult bird. It is 

 not, however, improbable that the habit of sitting on a 

 bare stone or portion of rock, by which this species has 

 acquired the name of Stone Falcon, is common to it at all 

 ages, and in other countries. In France it is called Le 

 Rockier, and Faucon de Roche ; and in Germany, Stein 

 Falke. This bird occasionally builds on rocks. 



The Merlin measures from ten to twelve inches in 

 length, depending on the sex of the specimen. An old 

 male has the beak bluish horn colour, palest at the base, 

 darkest towards the tip ; the cere yellow, the irides dark 

 brown ; the top of the head blue grey, with dark lines 

 passing backward ; the cheeks, and from thence round 

 the back of the neck, pale reddish brown, also marked 

 with dark streaks, forming a collar; the whole of the 



