Hawks and Small Birds 135 



" The eagle suffers little birds to sing, 



And is not careful what they mean thereby. 

 Knowing that with the shadow of his wing 

 He can at pleasure stint their melody." 



(Titus Andronicus^ Act IV. Scene iv.) 



Many years ago, I found the young of a Long-eared 

 Owl in an old Magpie's nest, in a spruce fir wood, and in 

 the bottom of the nest, amongst the collection of sticks, a 

 Coal Tit had established herself, and was sitting upon a 

 large clutch of eggs. Perhaps the incident is more worthy 

 of recalling from the unusual site for the tit's nest. 



Nearly all the Merlins disappear from the neighbourhood 

 of Llanuwchllyn before winter comes on, as do the majority 

 of all the other birds of prey (with the possible exception 

 of Buzzards), and it is rare to see one at that season that is 

 not in full mature dress. I saw one beautiful little male, 

 that had been shot in December, whose plumage vividly 

 recalled the description 



" The elfin king, like the merlin's wing, 

 Are his pinions of glossy blue." 



Yet he was only decaying on a vermin gibbet ! Except 

 when in this state of plumage, many keepers do not 

 recognise a Merlin, but include it under their almost generic 

 term of " Sparrow-Hawk." On the other hand, so seldom 

 do they get an adult male Sparrow-Hawk, that when they 

 do, the blue colour of his back and wings often deceives 

 them into calling him a " hen Merlin." 



Technically, the Merlin may sometimes be called Hebog-y- 

 graig (hawk, or falcon of the crag), but the name is, I rather 

 fancy, of modern origin, founded on the English one of 

 Stone-Falcon, sometimes applied to this species. Hardly 

 one countryman in a hundred would recognise the name, or 

 distinguish the bird if he held it in his hand, and on the 

 wing it is only a Math o gwalch, or cc kind of hawk," a very 

 comprehensive term indeed, often including even Cuckoos 

 and Nightjars. 



But let us now return to the moor, from which this 

 rather long digression has led us so far astray. Merlins are 



