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OBSERVATIONS ON THE BREEDING-HABITS 

 OF THE MERLIN. 



III. — Rearing of the Youxg. 



BY 

 W. ROWAN, M.SC, M.B.O.U., F.Z.S. 



{Continued from p. 202.) 



In the middle of July 1918 I got word from one of the 

 keepers on the outlying part of the moor that he had found 

 a family of newly-hatched Merlins and would keep them for 

 me if I so wished. The nest was four miles away across 

 the moor, but I decided to have them, if for no other reason 

 than to save their lives. So the next day we met and tramped 

 over together. It was in the evening and the cock rose 

 from the boulders, " Keking " wildly as we came into sight, 

 to be followed almost at once by the hen which rose from the 

 nest and also began " Keking." (The two notes were quite 

 distinguishable.) Both eventually disappeared, but, as I 

 discovered later when I knew them better, the hen at all 

 events had only settled on the distant hilltop and had 

 not actually gone. The young were quite small and still 

 unable to walk. Like baby Sparrow-Hawks they could 

 crawl about using the whole tarsus as a foot. They 

 were clad entirely in white down, with yellow legs and a 

 tinge of yellow at the base of the cere. The eyes were almost 

 black and the tongue had a curious greenish cap at the tip, 

 characteristic of these birds. It is no true cap, however, 

 though it has that appearance, for it slowly disappeared as 

 the birds grew. They had a most ferocious mien, and lay 

 on their backs and presented their claws and beaks when 

 we attempted to handle them. They had just been fed, 

 which accounted for the cock being on the boulders and 

 the hen at the nest. The plucked and still warm body of a 

 Meadow- Pipit, partially torn up, lay in the nest. 



The site was a very typical one. The nest was just 

 inside some old heather, adjoining a bracken patch. Un- 

 fortunately, the only place for a hide was to the west of the 

 nest, which made the chance of good photographs impossible 

 on account of the light. Still, since it was the notes I 

 mainly wanted, I decided to make the best of it. As we 

 moved away, the hen again appeared and renewed her wild 

 alarm till we were out of sight. 



On the 19th of July we fixed up the hide seven feet from 

 the nest. It was the only possible spot and the standing 



