THE MERLIN. 151 
The writer once saw a Cock Merlin in pursuit of a Wood Pigeon which took 
refuge in an elm, but the little Falcon dashed into the tree after it and rattled 
it out. One day an adult male was brought to him that had struck at a bird- 
catcher’s decoy birds and had been captured in his nets. Young Merlins taken 
from the nest are easily tamed, and become very docile; they were formerly trained 
for flights at Larks and Snipes; the female Merlin will fly well at Pigeons. From 
its being often noticed on the moors perched on a block of stone the Merlin has 
received the name of the Stone Falcon. In this country it usually nests upon 
the ground on the open moors, the nest being sometimes placed upon a tussock, 
sometimes on the bank of a small stream, sometimes among rocks; a hole is 
scraped which is occasionally lined with a few twigs of heather, loosely put 
together. It is rare in the British Islands to find the Merlin nesting in a tree; 
however, Lord Lilford gives an instance of a nest having been found in an oak 
in a wood in Northants; on the Continent the nest is not uncommonly found in 
trees, the old nests of other birds being appropriated. There are favourite spots 
upon the moors to which the birds return year after year to nest; if the pair are 
shot one year, the next year will find another pair attracted to the same place. 
Macgillivray states that the Merlin is resident in Scotland all the year round, and 
says that ‘‘should one approach the nest, especially when there are young in it, 
the Merlins fly around and overhead with great anxiety, uttering shrill cries, but 
keeping at a safe distance.” R. Gray says the Merlin ‘takes up its quarters in 
large towns in church towers and other tall buildings, and passes the entire winter 
among the house-tops where, in fact, it is much safer than in the open fields. I 
have seen it oftener than once frequenting slated roofs in the heart of the city of 
Glasgow, and preying upon the Pigeons that are constantly seen dozing for warmth 
on the chimneys in many of the public streets.” Two male birds captured in 
Glasgow were brought to him, they were as black as soot from the smoke and 
grime of their roosting places, and on dissection were found to have been preying 
on Pigeons and Sparrows. 
The eggs are four to six in number, somewhat subovate, and vary less in 
their colour and markings than the eggs of the Kestrel and Hobby; they are 
reddish in their ground colour, covered all. over with dark brick-red spots, and 
often have a purplish bloom; when they are first laid they have a beautiful violet 
red tinge with red-brown spots; this, however, soon fades, and they assume a 
red-brown ground colour with dirty brown spots. The average size is 1°5 inch, 
by 1°2 inch. 
The cry of the Merlin closely resembles that of the Kestrel. 
The Merlin is generally distributed over the northern Palearctic Region, and 
