40 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



quantities of sheep's wool, and contained three of the Merlin's eggs ; which in 

 coloration are so similar to Kestrels' and Hobbys' that unless one had seen 

 the bird it would not be possible to say which of the three they belonged to. 

 The nest was not particularly well situated from a photographic point 

 of view. Still, a ' dummy ' camera, similar to that utilized in the case of 

 the Buzzard only this time it consisted of an old tin and some beech leaves 



was fixed in position as silently and rapidly as possible, and with so much 



success that even whilst the writer, who had climbed the tree, was on his way 

 to earth, the little Merlin returned to the nest, and settled down upon her 

 charges. The confidence of the bird was indeed most delightful. 



During the next few days we paid the Merlin almost daily visits, and 

 found that she actually grew tamer as time went on. 



Sometimes when I climbed up to arrange the camera, she would not 

 leave her nest until my head was on a level with her ; and when I had finished 

 she would invariably be back upon her eggs before I had reached the ground. 

 We noticed that if an unusual time were taken in fixing the camera, she 

 would having flown about the tops of the trees for a while go across the 

 moor to a large solitary stone, shaped rather like a tombstone, some 400 or 

 500 yards away, and take perch there until she thought the time had come 

 when she might return and see if the coast was clear. 



It was never really necessary to make a hiding-place from which to release 

 the shutter ; all that one had to do was to sit quietly under the trees, and pull 

 the string at the desired moment. She never took the least notice of the ' flop ' 

 of the shutter, so that as a rule we did not climb up at once, but rested until 

 we thought that, without risk of hurting her feelings, we might venture to 

 change the dark slide. 



At length the idea occurred to us of making a hiding-place by the stone on 

 which she usually sat, for she would be pretty certain, if disturbed, to take 

 perch there. 



So one morning we set out with pick and shovel to construct a hide some 

 twenty-five yards from the Merlin's stone ; and having dug through the peaty 

 surface, we eventually made a sort of rustic dugout, roofed over with stems 

 of heather and grasses, inside of which the camera was duly installed. 



The ruse was successful, for when put off the nest by one of us, the little 

 Merlin, having flown round the trees screaming some half-dozen times, made 

 straight for her stone, and sat there whilst some exposures were made. 



On one occasion, whilst flying thus round the trees, she was joined by 

 her mate, who, screaming in a shriller tone, and bearing a small bird in his 

 talons, seemed much upset on her behalf. As they swung this way and that, 

 one noticed at once the difference in size between them ; for the male Merlin 

 (or Jack), is considerably smaller than the female. 



This rule applies to all of the hawks, but is more marked in the case of 



