252 MERLIN. Class II. 



thirteen, on some fifteen, but in one bird I ex- 

 amined, were no more than eight bars. The 

 breast and belly are of a yellowish white, mark 

 ed with oblong brown spots pointing downwards : 

 the legs yellow : the wings when closed reach 

 within an inch and a half of the end of the tail. 

 Manners. This and the preceding kind were often trained 

 for hawking : and this species, small as it is, was 

 inferior to none in point of spirit : it was used 

 for taking partridges, which it would kill by a 

 single stroke on the neck. The merlin flies low, 

 and is often seen alone the sides of roads, skim- 

 ming from one side of the hedges to the other, 

 in search of prey. 



It does not breed* in England, but migrates 

 here in October, about the time that the Hobby 

 disappears ; for the lark-catchers observe that 

 in September they take no merlins but abun- 

 dance of hobbies : but in the following month, 

 merlins only. 



* Dr. Latham says it breeds occasionally in Cumberland, and 

 forms its nest on the ground like the ringtail. Mr. Montagu 

 found three half grown merlins, in the middle of a high clump 

 of heath upon the moors in Northumberland. Ed. 



" Beckstein states, that it builds in high trees, and lays 

 five or six whitish eggs, marked with brown spots. In Thu~ 

 ringia it is rarely seen in the summer, but during the autumn 

 and winter, it plentiful in the forests and mountainous districts." 

 J. L. 



