'The eggs ... are laid in a slight hollow . . . amongst deep heather." 



THE MERLIN 



T 



HIS bird claims the dis- 

 tinction of being the 

 smallest member of the 

 Falcon family found breed- 

 ing in the British Islands. 

 The male is only about 



the size of a missel thrush, 



but his courage exceeds 

 even that of the noble peregrine, and 

 he has been known to attack and kill 

 game even twice his own weight. 



Although remaining with us all the 

 year round, this species is subject to a 

 good deal of local migration, and the 

 individuals seen in the southern counties 

 during the winter retire to the wild 

 moorland parts of Wales, the north of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland in the 

 spring to breed. It nests quite com- 



monly for its kind on some of the islands 

 in the Outer Hebrides. 



The eggs, numbering from three to six, 

 are creamy-white in ground colour, but 

 are generally so thickly marked with 

 reddish brown that the underlying tint 

 is difficult to discover. They are laid 

 in a slight hollow, which sometimes has 

 a meagre lining of bits of dead heather, 

 grass, or moss, amongst deep heather 

 or scattered rocks. Occasionally the 

 old habitation of some tree-building 

 species is occupied, but this departure 

 is more often indulged in on the Con- 

 tinent than in this country. 



The Merlin, or Stone Falcon, as it is 

 occasionally called, shows a great affec- 

 tion for a favourite old haunt of its 

 species, and in spite of persecution a 



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