82 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. VIII. 



whole a thaw. The next day the motning was bitterly cold, 

 with the north wind blowing hard. In the afternoon the 

 wind veered to the west, with a heavy fall of snow. At 

 midnight the wind dropped, the sky became clear, the ther- 

 mometer went down to 16°. The landscape was again white 

 and frost-bound. It looked exactly like mid-winter, except 

 that at that hour of night we could see to read a newspaper 

 out of doors. The climate of these regions is very curious 

 at this time, of the year. The change is sudden and violent 

 : — the leaping from mid-winter into summer, without any 

 intervening spring. 



We strolled out in the morning, not expecting to see any- 

 thing new. We shot a tree-sparrow and a yellow-hammer, 

 and were returning home somewhat disheartened, in spite 

 of our unexpectant mood at starting, when a hen harrier 

 suddenly put in an appearance. He did not, however, come 

 within range, and we went into a little valley, there to wait 

 for him or a chance raven. By-and-by a small hawk crossed 

 in front of us. We followed it up the hillside, caught sight 

 of it again, watched it alight on a heap of manure, quietly 

 stalked it, and shot it. It turned out to be a female merlin.* 



* The merlin (Falco CESalon, Gmel.) 

 still breeds in the British Islands and 

 throughout North Europe, wintering in 

 South Europe and North Africa. East- 

 wards it breeds throughout Northern 

 Silieria, occasionally straggling as far 

 south as Scinde and North-West India 

 in winter, passing through Mongolia 

 on migration, and wintering in South 

 China. On the American continent it 



is replaced by a very nearly allied 

 species— /"Ij/co columbarius (Linn.). In 

 the valley of the Petchora we observed 

 it as far north as latitude 68°. The 

 merlin is a regular summer migrant to 

 the moors of South Yorkshire and North 

 Derbyshire, where it would commit sad 

 havoc among the young grouse, if it 

 was not relentlessly persecuted by the 

 gamekeepers, who keep a close watch 



