

confirm my own former experience., and exactly coincide with what Naumann says respecting the 

 various stages of plumage. The youngest specimen I possess is one only a few days old, from 

 Kautokeino, which is covered with white down, slightly tinged with creamy white on the crown. The 

 next in age appears to be a female, and is from Novaja Zemlia (Nova Zembla) ; compared with the 

 female above described, this bird is much more rufous on the upper parts, especially on the head, and 

 has the underparts very thickly marked with dull umber-brown. A somewhat older bird than this is a 

 young male in the collection of Mr. C. A. Wright, of Malta. This specimen has the upper parts darker 

 than the young bird from Novaja Zemlia ; and the rump is tinged with grey ; the underparts, though 

 tolerably closely striped with dark brown, arc less so than in the young female above described. A 

 somewhat older bird than this young male is the one above described, also from Malta. A male from 

 Skara, in Sweden, has the upper parts in the fullest plumage; but the underparts are still in the closely 

 striped immature dress, and lack the rufous tinge of the fully adult bird. From these we come to the 

 adult female and male above described ; but I find that the female frequently attains, at probably an 

 advanced age, a dress somewhat different from that of the old female above described, but paler, and 

 has the upper parts washed with dull pale slate-grey or mousc-grcy. This stage of plumage was first 

 pointed out to me by Mr. Joseph "Wolf, the well-known artist, to whom I am indebted for the use of a 

 careful water-coloured sketch of the bird in this dress, as well as of the young male, both taken by him 

 from life. These have been copied by Mr. Kculcmans, and arc to form the second Plate. Since 

 receiving the sketch from Mr. Wolf, however, I have obtained females in this plumage from several 

 localities, one from Malta (lent to me by Mr. C. A. Wright) being an especially large and fine 

 specimen. 



The Merlin is found throughout Europe, being a summer visitant in the north and a winter 

 resident in the south. It visits North Africa during the winter, and is found in Asia as far east 

 as China, and breeds in Northern Siberia. It does not occur in America, being replaced by 

 F. columbarius. 



In Southern and Central England it is, as a rule, a winter visitant ; but instances are on 

 record of its having bred here. Mr. A. G. More says (Ibis, 1865, p. 10) that the Rev. M. A. 

 Mathews informed him that it had been seen on Exmoor in June. Mr. Farren (Zool. p. 8159) 

 states that he found the nest of the Merlin in low trees in the New Forest ; but the fact of the 

 nest being thus placed makes one believe that the Kestrel may have been mistaken for it. Mr. 

 Rogers, however, is said to have birds and eggs from the New Forest. Dr. Bree says that it 

 breeds in Essex. Mr. More further adds that according to Mr. Lingwood it breeds occasionally 

 in Hereford, according to Mr. Shaw in Shropshire, Mr. Tracy says that it also breeds occasionally 

 in Pembrokeshire, Mr. Salvin states that it nests regularly in Derbyshire, Mr. Eyton records it 

 from North Wales, and in North England it becomes a regular breeding species. 



In Scotland it is commonly distributed throughout the country, and is met with even on 

 the outer Hebrides ; and in Ireland it is indigenous in the northern counties as well as in the 

 south of the island ; and Thompson says that it breeds in the county of Antrim, in the mountains 

 of Londonderry and Tyrone, in Down, Tipperary, Cork, and Waterford. It does not occur in 

 Greenland; and the most western limit from which it is recorded is in lat. 57° 41' N. and long. 

 35° 23' W., where a specimen, now in the Norwich Museum, was caught at sea by Mr. Edward 

 Whymper in May 1867. In Iceland it breeds numerously, and is a common summer visitant, 

 arriving late in March and leaving in October. Captain Feilden writes that in the Faeroes it is 



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