HABITS OF THE MERLIN. 



77 



be accustomed to have its food placed upon the stuffed skin of a partridge, and when 



it has attained sufficient strength, the breast of a real partridge should be cut open, and a 



small portion of its ordinary food placed within the aperture, so as to encourage the bird 



to tear away the flesh in order to satiate its hunger. The next step is to substitute 



an entire partridge for the ordinary diet, and by degrees to teach it to pounce upon 



the dead bird as it is flung to a daily increasing distance. It is a good pigeon-hunter, 



and if the owner choose to train it for the smaller game, it is unrivalled as a chaser of 



thrushes, larks, and similar birds, 



owing to the pertinacity with 



which it carries on the pursuit, and 



the resolutely agile manner with 



which it will thread the mazes of 



branch and leaf in chase of a bird 



which seeks for refuge in the 



covert. 



Even on the wing, the Merlin 

 may be known by its peculiar 



flight. Sometimes it may be seen 



skimming over the ground at a 



swift pace, but at no great eleva- 

 tion, at another it will urge its 



spiral course upwards in pursuit 



of some prey which has taken 



to " climbing the air," while at 



another time it may be observed 



following the course of some prey 



with such singular exactness that 



the two birds seem to be ani- 

 mated by the same spirit ; and the 



turn is hardly commenced by the 



fugitive before it is taken up by 



the pursuer. In striking its prey 



the Merlin is possessed of a 



wonderful skill, the quarry falling 



down almost as soon as it is 



touched. It seems that the bird 



is able to strike a vital part with 



an almost imperceptible touch of 



its claw or beak. 



The Merlin frequently breeds 



in England, and makes its nest 



011 the ground, generally choosing 



for that purpose some spot where 



large stones are tolerably plenti- 

 ful, and may serve as a protection 



to the nest, as well as for a perch 



on which the Merlin, like the 



harrier, loves to sit and survey the prospect. From this habit of perching on pieces 



of stone it has derived the name of STONE FALCON, a title which has been applied to this 



bird in Germany and France as well as in England. Sometimes, but not often, the nest 



is made on some rocky shelf on a precipice. The eggs are four or five in number, of a 



light reddish-brown hue, covered with mottlings and splashes of a deeper tint. 



The colour of the Merlin is very pleasing, but not very easy to describe, as it is not 



so conspicuous as in many of the hawks, and moreover is rather different in the two sexes. 

 The top of the head is a slaty grey, marked with dark streaks running along the line 



of the head ; the beak and upper portions of the body are of a similar slaty grey, but 



MERLIN. 



