14 A CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS 



Shields, October, 1836, and is in my collection. An esample, 

 in first plumage, was killed near Morpeth, August, 1858; and 

 a third specimen is stated, on the authority of Mr. E. C. Emble- 

 ton, to have been found at Hauxley, October, 1868. Tliis is 

 mentioned in Tate's " History of Alnwick." 



I have a large series of specimens of this species from the con- 

 tinent, in various stages of plumage, from which it appears that 

 this, like the other true Falcons, obtains the mature dress on the 

 first moult. It is probable, however, that, occasionally, the whole 

 of the feathers are not shed, a few of those of the tail and wing- 

 coverts being retained. The vignette in Yarrell's Fom-th Edition, 

 Yol. I., p. 73, represents a young male in this state, but it may 

 be, in such cases, that the bird is still in the moult. In the Pere- 

 grine, sometimes, a few of the nest feathers are retained till the 

 second moult. This partial change of feathers occurs in many 

 birds at all ages. 



13. Meelin. F. ^salon, Gmelin. 



Falco <^sahn, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, I., 15. 

 „ „ Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 4, I., 74. 



This small and elegant species is a resident and breeds on our 

 moors amidst the heather, preferring a sloping groiind where 

 there are large tumbled stones; but it occasionally breeds in 

 trees. I saw a nest so situated in JS'orway, in 1833, when on 

 an ornithological tour in company with my friend, Mr. W. C. 

 Hewitson. And I was informed by the late Mr. Lovat, game- 

 keeper at Hesleyside, that, on the 27th of June, 1849, he met 

 with a brood of young Merlins three miles west of that place. 

 They occupied an old nest of the Carrion Crow, built in a birch 

 tree, at a height of twelve to fifteen feet fi-om the ground : he 

 shot both the parent birds. 



In July, 1866, in company with Mr. E. W. Brooks, I visited 

 the breeding site of this species, on a slope by the side of the 

 Black Burn, near Cragside, the residence of Sir "W. G. Arm- 

 strong, C.B., and saw the two old birds and the four young ones 

 perched on lai'ge stones : I believe it still breeds in that locality. 



