The Merlin. '5« 



The writer once saw a Cock Merlin in pursuit of a Wor;(l Pij^cou which took 

 refu.c;e in au elm, but the little Fakcju daslied into llu- tree after it and rattled 

 it out. One day an adult male was brought to him that had struck at a bird- 

 catcher's decoy birds and had been captured in his nets. Young Merlins taken 

 from the nest are easily tamed, and become very docile ; they were formerly trained 

 for flights at Larks and Snipes ; the female Merlin will fly well at Pigeons. From 

 its being often noticed on the moors perched on a block of stone the Merlin has 

 received the name of the Stone Falcon. In this countrj' it usnall}' nests upon 

 the ground on the open moors, the nest being sometimes placed upon a tussock, 

 sometimes on the bank of a small stream, sometimes among rocks ; a hole is 

 scraped which is occasionally lined with a few twigs of heather, loosely put 

 together. It is rare in the British Islands to find the Merlin nesting in a tree ; 

 however, Lord Lilford gives an instance of a nest having been found in an oak 

 in a wood in Northants ; on the Continent the nest is not uncommonl}' found in 

 trees, the old nests of other birds being appropriated. There are favourite spots 

 upon the moors to which the birds return year after j-ear to nest ; if the pair are 

 shot one year, the next year will find another pair attracted to the same place. 

 Macgillivray states that the Merlin is resident in Scotland all the 3-ear round, and 

 says that " should one approach the nest, especially when there are A'oung in it, 

 the Merlins fly around and overhead with great anxiet}-, uttering shrill cries, but 

 keeping at a safe distance." R. Graj' says the Merlin " takes up its quarters in 

 large towns in church towers and other tall buildings, and passes the entire Avinter 

 among the house-tops where, in fact, it is much safer than in the open fields. I 

 have seen it oftener than once frequenting slated roofs in the heart of the cit}- of 

 Glasgow, and preying upon the Pigeons that are constantly- seen dozing for warmth 

 on the chimneys in manj- of the public streets." Two male birds captured in 

 Glasgow were brought to him, they were as black as soot from the smoke and 

 grime of their roosting places, and on dissection were found to have been prej-ing 

 on Pigeons and Sparrows. 



The eggs are four to six in number, somewhat subovate, and vary' less in 

 their colour and markings than the eggs of the Kestrel and Hobb}' ; thev are 

 reddish in their ground colour, covered all over with dark brick-red spots, and 

 often have a purplish bloom ; when they are first laid the}- have a beautiful violet 

 red tinge with red-brown spots ; this, however, soon fades, and the}- assume a 

 red-brown ground colour with dirty brown spots. The average size is i"5 inch, 

 by I "2 inch. 



The cry of the Merlin closely resembles that of the Kestrel. 



The Merlin is generally distributed over the northern Palfearctic Region, and 



