352 MERLIN. 
in May 1875. In North America it is represented by & columbarius, 
with fewer bars on the tail. In Scandinavia the Merlin is common 
in the northern districts from April to October, and it has been 
observed as far as Yugor Strait, 69° N. lat. ; while southward it nests 
in Central Russia, on the high ground of Germany, in the Alpine dis- 
tricts of Central Europe, and in the Pyrenees. It is the commonest 
of the ‘ passage-hawks’ on Heligoland, and elsewhere it is well known 
on migration; the proportion of adults to immature birds being 
unusually great in the basin of the Mediterranean. During the 
cold season it inhabits North Africa and abounds in Egypt, its 
migrations extending to Nubia and Sennaar. Eastward, it frequents 
the northern portions of Asia as far as Ussuria in summer, wintering 
in Northern India and China. 
In the British Islands the nesting-place is usually a mere hollow 
scratched in the moorland ground, often on the side of a bank, and 
it is but seldom that even a few twigs of heather are found as a border. 
In the Feroes, Norway, and also in the Pyrenees, ledges of precipitous 
cliffs are resorted to; while in Scandinavia (frequently), in Scotland 
(occasionally), and perhaps in England oftener than is supposed, an 
old nest of some other species, built in a tree, is utilized. In the 
Museum at Oxford may be seen a hen bird with her eggs and the 
old nest of a Heron or a Crow in which these were deposited, from 
a cliff near Milford Haven. The 4-6 eggs, laid in May, are deep 
reddish-brown or purplish-red, without gloss: measurements 1°5 by 
1’2 in. The Merlin preys chiefly on Dunlins, Meadow-Pipits, 
Thrushes, Larks, &c.; while it has been seen in pursuit of a 
Swallow, whose rapid evolutions it followed as if moved by the same 
impulse. By falconers it was, and still is, used for flying at Larks ; 
in swiftness, however, it does not approach the Hobby, or even the 
wild Peregrine. Owing to its habit of perching on rocks, it is 
known in some parts as the ‘ Stone Falcon.’ 
Adult male: crown and mantle slate-colour, and nape rufous, with 
black shaft-streaks ; throat white, and under parts buffish, striped with 
dark brown ; tail bluish-grey, broadly banded with black near the 
end and tipped with white; cere, legs and feet yellow. Length 
11 in.; wing 7°38 in. Female: upper parts dark liver-brown ; tail- 
feathers brown, crossed with five narrow paler bands and tipped 
with white ; nape, cheeks and under parts dull white, streaked with 
brown. Length 12°5 in.; wing 8°6 in. Old females sometimes 
attain the male plumage. The young resemble the female, but are 
more rufous in tint. 
