188 THE ANGLER'S BIRDS. 



own bank, the ' plop ' of a rat or a moorhen 

 is annoyingly deceptive. 



THE MERLIN. 



For several years in succession, I have tried 

 to discover a merlin's nest upon the heaths 

 and moors of South East Devon, but have not 

 as yet succeeded; although, from the persistent 

 manner that two birds frequented one spot 

 during the latter end of May, it is certain that 

 their eggs could have been found by anyone 

 able to devote time to watching them through 

 good field glasses. 



I found a nest once as a boy or rather a 

 stable lad named Jesste did, who was* with me, 

 and who was the arch bird's-nester of the holi- 

 days at the edge of the Hermitage Wood, near 

 Woking. He merely called it a little hawk, 

 but I had no difficulty later on in identifying 

 both nest and eggs as a merlin's. The eggs 

 I have still, though rather faded from the rich 

 red brown they were when freshly taken and 

 blown. The merlin breeds far more freely in 

 the north, the bird being by no means 

 uncommon in Derbyshire ; but during winter it 

 is forced, like many others, to follow its food 

 supply and migrate Southward even to the sea 

 coast during severe weather. 



Only a few years ago a friend showed me 

 two birds which he had brought down with one 

 shot, neither of which, he said, he had ever 

 seen before. The one was a merlin, and the 

 other a lesser spotted woodpecker. This was in 



