MERLIN. 



RAPTORES. FALCO. 



51 



MERLIN. 



FALCO J?ESALON, Temm. 



PLATES XVIII. AND XVIII*. 



Synonyms of 

 Adult Male. 



Synonyms of 

 Female, and 

 immature 

 Males. 



Falco jEsalon, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. 1. p. 27 Shaw's Zool. 7. p. 196. 

 Flem. Br. Anim. 1. 50. 14 Faun. Amer. Boreal. 2. 37. No. 11. pi. 25. 



Fauco Emerillon, Temm. Man. cTOrnith. 1. p. 27. 



Falco Litho-Falco, Lath. Ind. Ornith. 1. 47. t. 115 Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 278. 

 Briss. 1. p. 341). 8 Rail, Syn. p. 14. 8. 



Falco caesius, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 60. 



Le Kocier, Buff. Ois. v. 1. p. 286 Id. PI. Enl. 447. 



Stone Falcon, Lath. Syn. 1. p. 93. 77- Mont. App. to Supp. of Ornith. 

 Diet Shaw's ZooL v. 7. p. 182. 



Falco ^Esalon, Gn.el Syst. 1. p. 284. sp. 118 Lath. Ind. Ornith. 1. 49. 



t. 119. Rail, Syn. p. 15. 15. Briss. 1. 382. 23 Will. p. 50. t. 3. 

 I/Emerillon, Buff. Ois. Pi. Enl. 468, young male. 

 Merlin, Br. ZooL 1. No. 63 Will. (Ang.) p. 85. t. 7 Lewin's Br. Birds, 



1. t. 22 Lath. Syn. 1. p. 106. 93 Id. Suppl. p. 27- Mont. Ornith. 



Diet Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 3 Low's Faun. Oread, p. 39. Wale. Syn. 



1. t. 22 Don, Br. Birds, 4. t. 94 Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. t. 41 Shaw's 



Zool. 7- p- 196. 



THE Merlin has generally been considered a winter or equa- Partially 

 torial visitant, and to leave Great Britain at the approach of mi g rator y- 

 spring, for other and more northern climates. Repeated 

 observation has, however, convinced me, that this opinion is 

 incorrect ; or, at least, that its migration is confined to the 

 southern parts of the island. It is certainly indigenous in 

 Northumberland, and, I believe also, in parts of Cumberland 

 and Westmoreland, as mentioned by Dr LATHAM. In the 

 first named county, it resorts, during summer, to the ex ten 

 sivc and upland moors, where it breeds, and where I have 

 frequently met with its nest, which, in all the instances that Nest, &c. 

 have come under my notice, was placed upon the ground, 

 amongst the heather, and not in trees, or in rocks, as TEM- 

 MINCK mentions in his " Manuel." The number of the eggs 

 is from three to five ; they are of a bluish- white colour, 

 marked with brown spots, principally disposed at the larger 

 end. 



