34 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



regret that this dashing little falcon should 

 receive the treatment that it has done, and will 

 yet do, I fear. Open moors or stony heath, 

 the haunts of the grouse, plovers, dunlins, and 

 of great numbers of tidings or moor-pipits, suit 

 this bird best. From its habit of resting on 

 large stones, for a look-out over the heather, it 

 has had the name of stone-falcon given to it. 



Larks, pipits, dunlins, and large moths, at 

 certain seasons, form the chief food of the 

 merlin. As it nests on the ground, its beautiful 

 eggs when met with are smashed, or at the 

 best taken for collectors. Old and young birds 

 are killed for the same purpose ; a few are 

 taken for the sport of falconry, but we fear 

 most go to the bird-preserver's. 



Creatures that are formed to prey on others 

 that is, to kill their own food show their 

 deep hereditary instinct of fight from the very 

 first. All the will is there, if the power be 

 lacking. For instance, in my time I have 

 kept both falcons and hawks. Some, the most 

 docile, reached me in mature plumage, freshly 

 captured ; others I have reared from the nest, 

 when they were in their white -down state. 

 Were they grateful for the care that was given 

 to them at first? Not a bit of it; for the 



