THE MERLIN. 253 
The Merlin frequently breeds in England, and makes its nest on the 
ground, generally choosing for that purpose some spot where large stones 
are tolerably plentiful, and may serve as a protection to the nest, as well as 
for a perch on which the Merlin, like the harrier, loves to sit and survey the 
prospect. From this habit of perching on pieces of stone it has derived the 
name of STONE FALCON, a title which has been applied to this bird in 
Germany and France as well as in England. Sometimes, but not often, the 
nest is made on some rocky shelf on a precipice. ‘The eggs are four or five 
in number, of a light reddish brown hue, covered with mottlings and splash- 
ings of a deeper tint. 
The colour of the Merlin is very pleasing, but not zery easy to describe, 
as it is not So conspicuous as in many of the hawks, and moreover is rather 
different in the two sexes. 
The top of the head is a slaty grey, marked with dark streaks running 
along the line of the head; the beak and upper portions of the body are of 
a similar slaty grey, but without the dark lines. The shafts of each feather 
are, however, of a dark brown, and give a very rich and peculiar colouring 
to those portions of the plumage. The pinions are black, the upper surface 
of the tail is nearly grey, with the exception of three faint dark bands, the 
last being the broadest, and the tip white. The chin and throat are white, 
and the under parts of the body are reddish fawn, thickly marked with 
patches of a darker colour and streaks of deep brown. The cere, legs, and 
toes are yellow, the claws black, and the beak a slaty grey, deepening to- 
wards the point, and slightly marked with longitudinal dark lines. Round 
the neck runs a band of pale reddish brown, which also extends to the 
cheeks, and there forms a patch on each side. 
This description belongs to the male bird, the colouring of the female 
being of a rather different nature. The beautiful blue-grey which tints the 
upper parts of the male bird is in the female of a dark reddish brown, 
marked with slender longitudinal streaks covered by the black-brown shafts 
of each feather. The secondaries and the wing-coverts are of the same hue 
as the back. The tail is brown, varied with five narrow streaks of dark 
brown, and the under surface of the body is a very pale brown, marked with 
longitudinal dashes of a darker hue. The young of both sexes are nearly 
alike for the first year, after which time the males assume their peculiar 
colouring, and the females retain the same tints. 
THE common KESTREL is one of the most familiar of the British hawks, 
being seen in almost every part of the country where a mouse, a lizard, or a 
beetle may be found. 
It may be easily distinguished while on the wing from any other hawk, by 
the peculiar manner in which it remains poised in air in a single spot, its 
head invariably pointing towards the wind, its tail spread, and its wings 
widely extended, almost as if it were a toy kite raised in the air by artificial 
means, and preserved in the same spot by the trammels of a string. While 
hanging thus strangely suspended in the air, its head is bent downwards, and 
its keen eyes glance restlessly in every direction, watching every blade of 
grass beneath its ken, and shooting down with unerring certainty of aim 
upon any unhappy field-mouse that may be foolish enough to poke his red 
face out of his hole while the Kestrel is on the watch. 
The number of field-mice consumed by this hawk is very great, for it is 
hardly possible to open the stomach of a Kestrel without finding the remains 
of one or more of these destructive little animals. On account of its mouse- 
eating propensities, the Kestrel is a most useful bird to the farmer, who in 
his ignorance confounds all hawks together, and now shoots the Kestrel 
which catches mice because kites used formerly to steal chickens, 
