42 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



Of course it is possible that the Merlin might appear suddenly whilst the 

 plover were feeding, and bind to one of them before it had time to realize what 

 was taking place ; but such an occurrence must be extremely rare, and those 

 who have watched the extraordinary ease with which plover can tumble and 

 corkscrew and dive in the air, will realize what a hopeless task any hawk 

 would have who should attempt to catch one of them. 



Nevertheless the Merlin is an exceedingly fast flier, and is moreover so per- 

 sistent that if she should start in pursuit of some quarry, she will stick to 

 her task until one of three things happens : She may succeed in catching 

 the victim ; it may throw her off by diving into cover and remaining motion- 

 less, until, tired of vainly searching for it, she decides to pass on ; or the 

 quarry may fairly beat the hawk in hard flying and the last is not by any 

 means an improbable finish to a long flight. 



I have watched a wild Merlin trying to come to grips with a strong lark 

 high in a cloudless summer sky, and have literally marvelled that either of 

 them should have been able to stand the test so long for such a flight involves 

 some furiously hard work. 



Each time that the Merlin put in a stoop, the Lark would at the precise 

 moment, when, with bated breath one unconsciously whispers, ' She's got him ! ' 

 suddenly flick aside, and the little hawk having again missed his mark would 

 throw up, and turn again for another shot. Again the lightning rush, and 

 again the lark is missed by ' the skin of his teeth.' 



And so they go on, the one exerting every ounce of strength, and trying 

 by every dexterous move to clutch the elusive quarry ; the other, confident 

 in the power of his wing, striving by timing his shifts to the barest fraction of 

 a second to avoid the deadly stoops. 



And so they disappeared from sight both apparently as game as ever. 



Since the Merlin was so popular among the Falconers of the Middle Ages, 

 and since in fact the art of Falconry has never been actually a lost one, a few 

 words regarding the little Falcon in the trained state may be of interest to the 

 readers of these lines. 



A trained Merlin is a most charming little pet, she is so easily reclaimed, 

 and so happy to sit upon her owner's wrist, that it is small wonder the 

 ladies of old held her in such high esteem. In addition to these virtues the 

 Merlin, when trained, seems to be almost if not quite as keen for the chase 

 as her wild relations. 



It frequently happens, at least in wide open country, that if a trained Merlin 

 should be flying some bird, a wild hawk will wait about until the ' denoue- 

 ment ' is about to occur, and then, benefiting by the Merlin's perseverance, 

 will ' cut in ' and snatch the reward from its rightful owner. 



I have during the past season seen three different wild hawks thus cut 

 in and attempt to seize the quarry the first was a hen Sparrow-hawk, who 



