118 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



quarry so severely that it was obliged to mount 

 aloft, its only chance of escape being to keep 

 above its pursuer ; but all in vain : it proved less 

 expert at this mano3uvre than the lark or even the 

 snipe, and after a short flight was clutched by the 

 merlin, who, as she came over my head in her ra- 

 pid descent towards a rough, broken part of the 

 moor at a little distance, appeared scarcely larger 

 than the bird in her talons. 



I have observed this species during the winter 

 in the neighbourhood of the coast at Pagham and 

 Selsey, and on the Downs eastward of Brighton ; 

 it has been killed near Hastings, Uckfield and 

 Rye, and has occurred in other parts of the 

 county. I once met with an immature specimen 

 at Upwaltham, on the hills between Petworth and 

 Chichester, as early as October, but this I consi- 

 der an unusual occurrence. Adult males* are 

 exceedingly rare, almost all that I have examined 

 were females or birds of the year, and I have not 

 been able to ascertain that it ever breeds in this 

 county. 



I cannot refrain from introducing here an epi- 

 sode illustrative of the sagacity and fearlessness 



* In North Wales young merlins are called stone-fal- 

 cons, a term which Mr. Yarrell informs us should be re- 

 stricted to the old males. In Sussex* it is generally 

 applied to male sparrowhawks during the winter. 



