HAWKS 77 
Eggs. Usually 3-4. Whitish usually nearly or wholly hidden 
by shades of beautiful tawny pink, orange to brownish-red 
and purplish-brown. Av. size, 2°01x 1°59 in. Laying begins 
usually in April. One brood. 
155. Merlin [Fatco regulus regulus Pallas; Falco esalon 
Tunstall]. Breeds on the hills and moorlands of Wales, N. Eng- 
land, Scotland, and Ireland; possibly Exmoor. Found on 
lower ground and coasts in autumn, 
Bird. Uength 11-12 in., the female the larger. Recognised 
by its relatively small size. Bill hooked. The male has the 
upper parts bluish with black shaft streaks, except the nape, 
which is rufous. Tail grey-blue barred, dusky and tipped 
white. Under-parts whitish, tinged rufous and striated black. 
Legs yellow. Female, upper-parts dark brown. Tail the same, 
barred and tipped white. Nape, cheeks, and under-parts 
whitish striped with dark brown. The young like female, but 
with pale rufous margins on upper-parts. 
Nest. Usually a scrape in the ground among heather with 
scanty lining. Occasionally in old nests in trees and on cliff 
ledges. 
Eggs. Usually 4-5. Heavily mottled with shades of reddish 
or purplish-brown, obscuring the ground colour. Av. size, 
155x123 in. Laying begins usually in May. One brood. 
156. Kestrel (wind-hover) [Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus 
Linnzus]. Resident generally where not 
persecuted, but scarce N. Scotland and 
Ireland. 
Bird. Length 13-14 in., the female be- 
ingsomewhat larger. Billhooked. Easily 
distinguished from the sparrow-hawk by 
its habit of hovering, its relatively long 
wings (93-10 in.), the fact that its tawny 
rust-coloured under-parts are streaked 
with black longitudinally and not barred, 
and that the dominating colour of the 
upper-parts is chestnut-red. Legs yellow Fic. 91 
and unfeathered. The sexes differ in oshifi 
the coloration of the upper-parts. The male has only the 
mantle and wing-coverts chestnut-red, with black spots. The 
top of the head, the rump and the tail are slate-blue, the 
tail with a broad terminal black band, tipped white. Wing 
quills dusky. The female has the whole upper-parts, including 
the tail, dull chestnut-red, with black bars. Young: like the 
female, but paler. 
Nest. Place various: ledges of cliffs. and quarries, ruins, on 
old nests in trees, rarely on the ground. No material. 
