In the north of England and Scotland, if fortune favours, 

 you may find the merUn, our smallest British falcon : the 

 male scarcely exceeds a blackbird in size. Moors and the 

 heath-covered brows of sea-cliffs are perhaps its favourite 

 haunts. Its flight is swift, buoyant, and low. Unlike the 

 hobby, gliding movements are not conspicuous. The male 

 is of a slate-blue, and has a broad black band across the tail. 

 The female is larger than her mate, dark brown on the back 

 and wings, and white, streaked with brown, below. It feeds 

 almost entirely on small birds, but varies this diet with beetles 

 and dragon-flies. 



Wherever there are deer-forests in Scotland, even to-day — 

 but nowhere else in Great Britain — you may count on seeing 

 the golden eagle. And it is a sight to gladden the eyes. Its 

 great size, broad wings, and widespread, upturned primaries 

 are unmistakable, when seen on the wing — and it is rarely 

 that you wUl see it else. 



Those who cannot contrive to visit the haunts of the 

 golden eagle may find ample compensation in watching the 

 flight of the common buzzard in Wales, the Devonian penin- 

 sula, and the Lake District. Though time was when it 

 might be seen aU over England, wherever woods abounded. 

 Its flight, when hunting, strikes one as somewhat slow and 

 heavy. In fine weather, however, as if for the mere delight 

 of the exercise, it will mount heavenwards in great sweeping 



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