BRITISH BIRDS. 



(Falco 



THE MERLIN. 



^ Linn. Fazicon emcrillon, Temm. 



THE Merlin is one of the smallest of the Falcon 

 tribe in this country, the male scarcely exceeding 

 the size of a Blackbird. The specimen, which was 

 lent to this work by a young friend and rising 

 naturalist, Mr. John Hancock, of Newcastle, is the 

 fourth of the kind which we have ever heard of in 

 the north of England. Length eleven and a half 

 inches; breadth twenty-four and three-quarters; 

 weight six and a half ounces. The bill is bluish ; 

 irides dark brown : its upper plumage is of a deep 

 lead-coloured blue, with the shaft of each feather 

 on the back, wing coverts, scapulars, and upper 

 part of the head black ; the quill feathers are dark 

 brown ; inner webs crossed with bars or spots of 

 white; the end of the tail is black, tipped with 



