202 



THE NESTING HABITS OF THE MERLIN IN 

 SOUTH GLAMORGANSHIRE. 



BY 



GEOFFREY C. S. INGRAM. 



The following notes are written with the intention of drawing 

 attention to a rather unusual departure in the choice of nesting 

 sites by the Merlin {Falco c. cBsalon). Lack of time and the 

 difficulty of getting to the localities have prevented me from 

 giving more than a few hours per annum to the study of these 

 birds. They have nested in one of the three localities I know 

 of since 1898, and most probably still earlier, but my first 

 personal acquaintance with them dates from 1912, when on 

 June 23rd a nest containing three eggs of the Partridge {Perdix 

 p. perdix) was found, on the top of a sand-hill some 40-50 feet 

 high, and only two hundred yards from the sea. The eggs 

 were on the point of hatching, and a female Merlin was sitting 

 very hard on them. She was watched back to this nest on 

 four separate occasions during the day. It was evident that 

 some one had substituted the Partridge eggs for her proper 

 clutch. I have wondered ever since what became of the 

 youngsters when they hatched out. 



This nest was a well-constructed one, quite different from 

 the rough " scratch " which is usually thought good enough 

 when the birds breed among typical surroundings. 



My next visit to this spot was made the following year on 

 June ist, 1913, when a day was spent among the sand-hills. 

 Detailed instructions were given me by my friend H. M. Salmon, 

 who had visited the place a week before and located the nest, 

 and so it was not long before I found the right sand-hill. The 

 female left as I reached the foot, and climbing up I found 

 another well-made nest of grass with four eggs therein, of the 

 proper kind this time. To obtain a photograph was a tiresome 

 job, as the space at the top of the dune could easily have been 

 covered by a circle three feet in diameter. 



I was unable to visit this haunt both in 1914 and 1915, but 

 in 1916, my friend being home on leave, we made two special 

 trips, and on the first, made on May 21st, after climbing and 

 searching several sand-hills, we eventually struck the right 

 one, the female Merlin dashing off as we climbed it. 



There were five eggs in the nest this time, and as in previous 

 years it was well constructed of dead grass. Our second trip 

 was on July 9th, and as we neared the spot we were greeted 

 by the female flying around us in a very agitated way, uttering 



