The Merlin.-] OF ORKNEY. . 39 



which he picked up, and found the entrails drove out of it by 

 the force of the blow. 



It is wonderful to observe at what a distance the small birds 

 know this hawk, and with what anxiety they shun him ; when 

 pursued often running themselves into more certain danger j 

 bushes, caves, houses, even the bosom of their general enemy, 

 Man, is then an asylum, though often trying to save their 

 lives, they more certainly lose them. 



Species 9- The Merlin. 



Wil. Orn. 85. RaiiSyn. Av. 15. Brit. Zool. 153. Sib. Scot. 15. Mer- 

 lin, the female ; Jack, the male. Accipiter .ZEsalon. 



OFTEN seen skimming along the fields in search of prey ; 

 flies low ; and, like the former, kills its prey with a stroke of 

 its wing, and sometimes nimbly whips a small bird from the 

 ground, and immediately makes off with it ; remarkably te- 

 nacious of its prey, seldom willing to part with it ; to preserve 

 it will catch it in its claws, and fly as well as it can, even 

 though with a pigeon, moorfowl, or other bird heavier than 

 itself. All the merlin's motions are quick, its turnings and 

 windings so much so, that they can scarce be followed with 

 the eye. It is full of spirit ; when wounded (if not mortally), 

 fights with bill and claws, and if it hits seldom fails to fetch 

 the blood. In a word, though among the least, it is the 

 briskest among the hawk kind in these islands. 



