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OBSERVATIONS ON THE BKEEDING-HABITS 

 OF THE MERLIN. 



I. — General Environment. 



BY 

 \V. ROWAN, M.SC, M.B.O.U., F.Z.S. 



In the following notes, which embody the results of several 

 seasons' work on the Merlin [Falcoc. cBsalon) , I should like to lay 

 emphasis on the fact that the few generalities indulged in appl}- 

 to a specified area — Barden and Embsay Moors near Skipton. 

 Yorks. Even so I have preferred to give detailed account 

 of two particular nests kept under constant and close observa- 

 tion, rather than to generalize freely . Individual eccentricities 

 are very well developed amongst birds, and although the 

 behaviour of the two families dealt with appears to be typical 

 of the species in general within our area, it may not be typical 

 of the bird for other districts. My own experience with 

 the Merlin in Wales and Scotland has been too slight usefully 

 to judge the question from this aspect, but since several 

 other species exhibit unexpected local traits in widely sepa- 

 rated districts, it is possible that the Merlin is also subject 

 to variation in habits. 



I should like to express my thanks to Mr. Stephen Birch, 

 the Duke of Devonshire's head keeper on his Yorkshire 

 estates, for the continual trouble he has taken to give me 

 every possible facility in my work, for his personal help 

 on innumerable occasions, and for the valuable information 

 that his keen interest in bird-life has enabled him to give me. 

 My thanks are also due to other keepers on the estate for 

 irequent assistance, particularly Messrs. Binns, Isherwood 

 and Tattersal. 



The two moors concerned in these notes, known respec- 

 tively as Embsay and Barden Moors, in reality form a single 

 stretch of moorland nearly twenty square miles in area, 

 fringed, except along their contiguous borders (demarcated 

 by a stone wall), with pastures and occasional plantations. 

 The whole is encircled by a road joining the villages of 

 Burnsall, Barden, Embsay and Grassington. 



The vegetation is typical, the predominating plant of 

 the association being ling [Calluna) relieved in the damper 

 parts by patches of bog-moss {Sphagnum) and various coarse 

 grasses, e.g., Molinia. Bell-heather [Erica tetralix) occurs 

 in very limited quantities, while extensive stretches of 

 bracken {Pteris) and less frequent ones of bilberry [Vaccinium 



