150 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
with rufous. They closely resemble young Hobbies, but are to be easily distin- 
guished dy a row of conspicuous oblong white spots on the primaries, which they have 
in common with the adult females. 
Family—FALCONIDA2. 
MERLIN. 
Falco esalon, TUNSTALL. 
HIS courageous little Falcon, the smallest species of the British Fadconzde, is 
a frequenter of moorlands throughout the summer, and is to be found not 
uncommonly in Wales, in the North of England, and in the mountainous parts 
of Scotland and Ireland, while a few are found occasionally nesting so far to the 
south as Exmoor. Being a Hawk it is, of course, much persecuted, and is yearly 
decreasing in numbers. It is resident in this country throughout the year; in 
the autumn it leaves the high grounds, following the migrations into the lowlands 
of the small birds it preys upon, and during the winter it may frequently be seen 
in cultivated districts, flying low over the ground with rapid, skimming flight, 
beating the sides of fences after the manner of a Sparrow-Hawk, in search of some 
small bird which, flying before it, is captured in the air. Many of the Merlins 
thus seen are immature birds that have arrived in this country from the northern 
parts of the Continent. On the moors, to which it returns late in March or early 
in April, the Titlark and the Twite are its favourite quarry. It also flies at Snipe, 
Sandpipers, Golden Plovers, Lapwings, Grouse, and Partridges, occasionally feeding 
‘on beetles; while in the winter it is fond of haunting the coasts that it may 
persecute the Zyinge. In Ireland the Merlin will attend sportsmen who are 
beating the bogs for Snipe, for the chance of a flight at the birds that may be 
flushed, and often stooping suddenly will carry off their dead or wounded birds. 
