33 



entrance and passage to their nursery most probably 

 being the main cause of their threadbare condition. 



Most waterfowl conduct their newly-hatched 

 young under the shelter of the reeds or long grass 

 that may be found near at hand ; but this species, 

 if not out at sea, may usually be observed with 

 their brood on the open sands. 



The young birds, though seen in such a seem- 

 ingly unprotected state, are by no means easily 

 procured. 



On the first signs of danger they scatter in all 

 directions, and each one taking a line for itself, it 

 is seldom that more than one falls a victim to the 

 pursuer. If surprised among the sandbanks and 

 bent grass, the colour so resembles the surrounding 

 objects that they may almost be trodden upon 

 without being perceived. 



The male and female in the case were obtained 

 just before the breeding season, being shot early in 

 the spring of 1867, in Gullane Bay, in the Firth of 

 Forth. The old birds belonging to the brood were 

 killed, but the 'soiled condition of their feathers 

 would only have given a very poor idea of what 

 handsome birds they had been a few weeks earlier. 

 The young were taken in Dornoch Firth, in June, 

 1868. 



In the summer of 1893, I observed in a shallow rocky 

 bay on the west coast of South Uist several adult birds of 

 this species fishing at half-tide some two hundred yards 

 from the shore. On approaching the water's edge, a single 

 old bird swam off the rocks followed by over forty ducklings, 

 and a moment or two afterwards a second old bird with a 

 similar following appeared from behind another rock. These 

 two must have been keeping a creche for the benefit of the 

 rest. Ed. 



MERLIN. 



Case 47. 



Immature birds of this species are frequently 

 met with in the south, though the true home of 



