jRerlin. 59 



we have figured, which is from the cabinet of Mr. Yarrell, 

 differs from those described by Mr. Selby, but agrees per- 

 fectly with the description Bechstein gives of the eggs of this 

 species. According to Montagu, the Merlin does not visit 

 the south of England until October, about the time that the 

 Hobby retires ; but we have reason to think that in some 

 few instances this species passes the summer months more 

 southward than the limits assigned by most authors, as we 

 have received from Suffolk eggs perfectly resembling Mr. 

 YarrelPs specimen. 



That this bird is capable of enduring a high degree of cold 

 we may conclude from the assertion of Monsieur Teinminck 

 that it is commonly found beyond the limits of the arctic 

 circle. 



The adult male Merlin is from ten to eleven inches in 

 length, and weighs five or six ounces. The wing from the 

 carpus to the tip measures seven inches and a half; the tail 

 extends an inch and a quarter beyond the points of the 

 closed wings. The beak measures seven lines in length, and 

 is not so much curved as in the preceding species ; it is 

 strong, and with the tooth prominent. The upper parts of 

 this bird are of a fine blue stone colour, including the crown 

 of the head, the back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials. 

 The crown of the head is streaked with black down the 

 shafts of the feathers; the blue feathers of the upper plu- 

 mage have also black shafts. The blue tail has a broad 

 black band near the tip, and the specimen from which 

 the plate was taken bore traces of three interrupted black 

 bars ; the tail-feathers are tipped with cream white. The 

 primary quills are dusky above, paler, and barred with white, 

 beneath. The second and third quill-feathers are the longest 

 in the wing ; the first is a little shorter than the fourth ; 

 the first and second feathers are strongly notched on the 



