152 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



This applies not only to an individual pair, but 

 to all the Merlins of our moors ; for if a pair be 

 exterminated one season, their place is almost 

 invariably taken by others the next, which build 

 on the same identical patch of heather that was 

 lately occupied by their unfortunate companions. 

 The Merlin makes its slight nest on the ground 

 amongst the heather and other vegetation of the 

 moor, the female laying four or five eggs very 

 like those of the Kestrel, only not quite so pink 

 a brown. The Merlin feeds upon the various 

 small birds of the moor ; and it will fly down 

 Plovers, Snipes, and the half-grown Grouse, as 

 well as capture the larger coleopterous insects. 

 From the Kestrel, the only other Hawk with 

 which it is likely to be confused, the Merlin is 

 readily distinguished by its smaller size and slate- 

 blue upper plumage. Both Kestrels and Sparrow- 

 Hawks occasionally visit the moors, the former 

 even breeding on the rocks upon them ; but 

 the ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD (Aguila lagopus] 

 regularly crosses them in spring and autumn on 

 passage to its arctic breeding-grounds. Its stay, 

 however, is so fleeting that the observer will be 

 more than fortunate to come across this species,, 

 readily distinguished from the Common Buzzard 

 by its feathered tarsi. The Short-eared Owl 

 may also be met with in most parts of the moors, 

 but we shall meet with this bird on the Broads, 

 and will then study its habits (see p. 188). 



In many parts of the moors, in the swampy 

 hollows or on the very summits of the hills where 

 the ground is rough and broken, stretching away 

 for miles in billowy wastes of heath and cranberry,, 

 enlivened here and there with patches of green 



