226 



NESTS AND E&G8 OF 



used to hawk for quails, snipes and larlis. The rugged mountain ranges on th& 

 Scottish border furnish many breeding places for the Merlin. The site generally se- 

 lected is the side of some ravine, a projecting rock, bank, or tuft of heath. Th& 

 nest consists of a scanty supply of sticks, heather, grass or moss, loosely arranged. 





353. 1. Merlin (From Brehni). 



The eggs are three, four or five in number; Bewick says six; Temminck, five or six. 

 They are bluish-white, spotted and blotched, generally more thickly at the larger 

 end, with deep reddish-brown. Average size, 1.49x1.20. Eleven sets of five eggs 

 each are in Mr. Crandall's extensive collection. These were taken in Lapland and 

 various localities in Iceland, all in June between the dates ranging from the 3d to the 

 14th. The average size of the fifty-five eggs is 1.58x1.23 inches; the longest being 

 1.65x1.26, the shortest 1.50x1.24. 



359. APLOMADO FALCOH'. Falco fusco-carulescens Vieill. 

 Southern Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, south to Patagonia. 



Geog. Dlst.— 



