54 FALCONIDA. 
proportion to his size, is this little bird, that a male Merlin, 
not weighing more than six ounces, has been seen to strike 
and laill a Partridge that was certainly more than twice 
his own weight; and so tenacious generally is he of his 
prey, that it is very difficult to make him quit anything 
he has taken. The more common food of this species is 
small birds. 
The Merlin was formerly, and is now occasionally, 
trained ; and Sir John Sebright, in the pamphlet already 
quoted, says, ‘“‘ He will take Blackbirds and Thrushes. 
He may be made to wait on, that is, hover near, till the 
bird to be pursued is started again; but though a Merlin 
will sometimes kill a Partridge, they are not strong enough 
to be effective in the field.” 
The Merlin was formerly considered to be only a win- 
ter visitor in this country; but it is now very well as- 
certained that this species breeds on the moors of some 
northern counties. Mr. Selby has found the nest several 
times in Northumberland; and Dr. Heysham mentions 
three instances that came to his knowledge of Merlins’ nests 
in Cumberland, where, he says, this bird remains all the 
year. Mr. Eyton tells me that it breeds on Cader Idris ; 
and Mr. Dovaston sent a notice to his friend Mr. Bewick, 
‘‘on the authority of the gamekeeper at Wynstay Park, 
North Wales, that he had often seen the nest of the 
Merlin, and that it built and bred there in the summer of 
1826.” In the more southern counties of Cornwall and 
Devonshire, the Merlin is considered to be rare, and only 
seen in winter. On our eastern coast it is killed, but not 
very often, in Kent, Essex, and Norfolk. The specimens 
obtained are generally young birds; and these occur most 
frequently in autumn, or at the beginning of winter. In 
Ireland, according to Mr. Thompson, the Merlin is indi- 
