456 



FALCON. 



There are considerable varieties of colour in som< 

 birds, which in shape and in habit very much resembli 

 the kestrel as above described, and which, in fact, can 

 not perhaps be separated from it with much propriety 

 These inhabit the temperate parts of Europe and Asia 

 and also of North America, moving northward in the 

 spring, and southward in the autumn. In the part o 

 Europe north of the Baltic, the kestrel is a bird oi 

 passage, and seen only during the summer. It appears 

 at the same time with the white wagtail, at the time 

 when the crocus and the violet are in blossom ; and 

 it takes its departure in September, almost at the same 

 time with the bird which accompanies it on its arrival. 

 It usually constructs its nest in old ruins and towers, 

 and sometimes in the woods, and will occasionally con- 

 tent itself with the deserted nest of a magpie or rook. 

 Its own nest consists of sticks lined with wool or 

 other soft materials. The eggs, which are four or five 

 in number, are rather inferior in size to those of the 

 sparrow-hawk, and are of a dirty white colour, blotched 

 with rust-colour of various shades, and occasionally 

 wholly covered with a deep rusty red. This species 

 is a common inhabitant of our own country, especially 

 about our rocky coasts, or in high or ruinous towers, 

 proclaiming its presence by a loud tinkling and grating 

 noise. It is frequently observed fixed, as it were, in 

 clear weather, in one place, and fanning the air with 

 its wings, being then very intent on its prey, such as 

 field mice, moles, frogs, &c., which it darts upon like 

 an arrow. It also preys on birds ; and such is the 

 determination and force with which it dashes along, 

 either in pursuit of prey, or to escape from more 

 powerful predatory birds, that it has been known to 

 break through a window, and fall stunned in the 

 middle of a room. When it preys on birds it pulls 

 the feathers with great dexterity and neatness, but 

 when mice are its food, it swallows them entire, and 

 discharges the indigestible parts by the bill in castings 

 or quids, in the same manner as the owls. It is far 

 more familiar than most of the tribe ; and very often 

 pounces on the call birds used by bird-catchers, and 

 getting entangled in their nets, loses its liberty. 



The kestrel is very abundant in the Deccan, or 

 peninsular part of India ; and exactly identical in both 

 sexes with the kestrel of Europe ; but Colonel Sykes, 

 whose researches have thrown much light on the birds 

 of India, mentions being in possession of a male bird 

 exactly like the female of the kestrel in plumage and 

 size, and consequently larger than the male kestrel : 

 and, as this was shot from a party of five or six perched 

 on the same tree, and without'a male kestrel in com- 

 pany, he is induced to believe there is a distinct 

 species, in which both sexes have the plumage of the 

 female European kestrel. Remains of rats, mice, 

 lizards, grasshoppers, and a bird, were found in the 

 stomach of several specimens. In one stomach the 

 remains of no less than four lizards were met with ! 



The MERLIN (Falco cesalon) is the smallest of all 

 the British falcons, but it is one of the swiftest on the 

 wing, the boldest in the chase, and the most easily 

 *amed ; and, therefore, in the days of falconry, it was 

 in especial repute as a lady's hawk. The weight of 

 the female merlin is only about six ounces, and the 

 male is not more than five. There is considerable 

 difference in colour between the female and young 

 male, which resemble each other, and the male bird 

 in full plumage. On this account they have often 

 been described as different species, the female and 

 young male, especially the latter, being called " stone 



falcons." There is one circumstance in the habits of 

 these birds, which, in so far, shows how likely it was 

 for inattentive observers to fall into this mistake. The 

 merlin, considered as a British bird, has very often 

 been described as a migrant, appearing chiefly in the 

 winter, whereas it is in reality a resident bird, and 

 performs its migrations within the country. In tho 

 breeding season, it resorts to the lonely moors, where 

 it constructs its nest in cliffs of rocks, heaps of stones, 

 or bushes, according as one or the other may be most 

 convenient. It resorts to those upland haunts about 

 the same time when the summer migrants, or birds of 

 summer movement, which winter abroad or in the lower 

 and more fertile parts of the country, resort to the same 

 places ; and it quits these upland retreats at an ad- 

 vanced period of the season, following the other birds 

 on their migration southward, though it does not ap- 

 pear that it quits the country along with those which 

 winter in more tropical climates. In consequence of 

 this movement, it is not met with in the southern or 

 lower parts of the island during the summer ; and, as 

 there are but few persons who frequent the moors until 

 the shooting season begins, the young merlins are then 

 seen in their first plumage, and they are seen among 

 stony places, which has of course got them the name 

 of stone falcons. When the merlin comes to the mar- 

 gins of the cultivated land, it is one of the severest 

 enemies of the partridge. Its eye is very keen, 

 and its motions rapid ; and thus it beats th'e fields 

 with more success than even the larger hawks ; and 

 when it gets sight of a covey of partridges, it rarelv 

 departs without its bird. Notwithstanding its bold- 

 ness and its power of wing, the merlin is one of the 

 lowest-flighted falcons ; and when on the cultivated 

 lands, it is generally found skimming over the fields, 

 or along the hedges, very close to the surface : and 

 thus, as its prey is always below it, there is compara- 

 tively small chance of escape. In falconry the merlin 

 was flown at ground birds, or at all events at low 

 flighted ones, and was highly esteemed for the capture 

 of these. Partridges have such instinctive alarm at 

 this little falcon, that, in order to escape it, they will 

 throng round a sportsman, and crouch at his feet. 



It is probable that on the moors merlins follow the 

 same habit ; and capture on their nests many of those 

 uirds which breed in such places. Nor is it at all impro- 

 aable that a sort of reprisal is made upon the merlins 

 :hemselves, not in the capture of the old birds, but in 

 the destruction of the eggs or the unfledged young, 

 n the absence of the parent birds. From the nests 

 :hat have been examined, there is reason to conclude 

 ;hat the broods of merlins, if all reared, would be 

 much more numerous than those of almost any other 

 alcon, the eggs being as many as six, while in most 

 of the others they never exceed four, and are rarely 

 so many. Merlins are, however, of much more rare 

 occurrence than those whose eggs are more numerous ; 

 and thus there is some reason for believing that they 

 nust meet with casualties in the moors, in having 

 ;heir eggs destroyed by the hooded and carrion crows 

 which frequent such places. The raven may also be 

 an enemy to them ; though the raven is not so much 

 plunderer of nests as the more feeble birds of the 

 row tribe ; but the merlin itself would be no match 

 "or the raven ; for, unless by one very lucky stroke, 

 vhich it is difficult to get upon a bird so crafty as the 

 raven, even the peregrine, or the goshawk, is not a 

 match for this strong and determined bird, or at all 

 events not more than a match. 



