FALCONIDjE. 37 



[11.] 5. Falco ^salon. (Temminck.) The Merlin. 



Genus. Falco. Linn. Auctorum. 



Dubious Falcon. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 213, No. 112 ? 



Falco aesalon. Temm., i., p. 27. Selby. Brit. Orn., i., p. 45, pi. 18. 



Plate xxv. Female. 



This bird is known to the native inhabitants of the fur-countries by the same 

 name with the two preceding ones ; and we suspect that its similarity, in certain 

 states of plumage, to the Pigeon-Hawk, has caused them to be confounded even 

 by systematic writers. Hence we have been unable to quote with confidence any 

 figures or descriptions of American specimens ; and the same cause renders it 

 difficult to ascertain the extent of its migrations on that continent. A single pair 

 were seen in the neighbourhood of Carlton House, in May, 1827, and the female 

 was shot. In the oviduct there were several full-sized white eggs, clouded at one 

 end with a few bronze-coloured spots. Another specimen, probably also a female, 

 was killed at the Sault St. Marie, between Lakes Huron and Superior, but it could 

 not be preserved. It is a larger bird, and has longer toes, than the Falco spar- 

 verius. — R. 



The specimen killed at Carlton House is, beyond doubt, an old female Merlin, 

 just beginning to have its new feathers, several of which, darker and more cine- 

 reous, are to be seen on the sides near the hind part of the neck. — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of an old female, killed on the plains of the Saskatchewan, 14th May, 1827, while flying in company with the male. 



Colour of the dorsal aspect dull, dusky yellowish-brown, varied by spots and short trans- 

 verse bars of dull wood-brown. On the crown of the head the feathers have a central streak 

 of blackish-brown, gradually fading into liver-brown towards the margins, which are rust- 

 coloured, but are much worn off. On the upper part of the neck the plumage is lighter, and 

 the white bases of the feathers appear. On the back, and on the wing and tail coverts, the 

 wood-brown forms one or two pairs of roundish, ill-defined spots on each feather : on the 

 scapularies it exists in the form of transverse bars, interrupted at the shafts. The quill feathers 

 have from five to seven pairs of wood-brown spots, those on the outer webs being small, irre- 

 gular, and situated close to the shafts. The ground colour of the tail is paler and duller than 

 that of the back, except at its end, where it approaches to liver-brown. It is narrowly tipped 



