Ay, 
MERLIN. 
PLATE XVI. 
Falco esalon, ; ; . Pennant. Monraev. 
ee ce e 
Berwick. FLemine. 
Tue female Merlin sits close at first, but if disturbed 
or alarmed more than once, becomes extremely shy. 
The male takes up a position near at hand, on the 
top of some eminence, from whence he can perceive 
the approach of any intruder, of which he gives 
notice by shrill cries of alarm. 
The nest is generally, in this country at least, built 
on the ground, on open moors or heaths; frequently 
on the side of a ravine, in a tuft of heath, or projection 
of a rock or bank; and when this is the case, is 
composed of very scanty materials—a few sticks, with 
heather, grass, or moss—the bare ground almost sufficing 
for the purpose. In othcr countries it appears, occa- 
sionally at all events, to be built m trees, and is then 
made of sticks, and lined with wool. In the Orkney 
and Shetland Islands it is placed among precipitous 
and inaccessible rocks. Montagu says that an instance 
has been known of a Merlin building in a deserted 
Crow’s nest; and I have no doubt that such occurrences 
are by no means rare. 
Whe eggs are three, four, or five in number; 
Bewick says six, and Temminck five or six. hey are 
bluish white, blotted, particularly at the thicker end, 
