® 
- 
200 
63. MeER- 
EN EP hee 
DeEscrIP. 
ManneRs. 
M& Ro) tN Gite” 
L’Efmerillon. Beloz av. 118. L’Emerillon. Brifon av. I. 
fifalon. Ge/ner av. 44. 382. 
Merlina. Turzeri. Smerlio, o Smeriglio. Lorenzi 
Smerlus, Smerillus. Aldr. av. av. tab. 18. 19. 
F787. Br. Zool. 70. plate A. 12. 
Wil. orn. 35. Pl. Enl. 468. 
Raii fyn. av. 15. fiif?. D’Oys. 1. 288. 
HE Merlin weighs near five ounces and a 
half: its length is twelve inches, its breadth 
twenty five. The bill is of a bluifh lead color: the — 
cere of a lemon color: the irides very dark, almoft 
black : the head is ferruginous, and each feather is 
marked with a bluifh black ftreak along the fhaft: 
the back and wings are of a deep bluifh ath color, 
adorned with ferruginous ftreaks and fpots, and 
edged with the fame : the quil feathers are almoft 
black, marked with reddifh oval fpots: the under 
coverts of the wings brown, beautifully marked 
with round white fpots: the tail is five inches 
long, croffed with alternate bars of dufky and red- 
difh clay color; on fome of the feathers of the 
fame bird are thirteen, on fome fifteen, but in one 
bird I examined, were no more than eight: the 
breaft and belly are of a yellowifh white, marked 
with oblong brown fpots pointing downwards: 
the legs yellow: the wings when clofed reach within 
an inch and a half of the end of the tail. This and ~ 
* Merularius; quia merulas infectatur. Skinner. 
the 
