THE MERLIN. 



Falco cesalon, Tunstall, 

 Plate 38. 



This little Falcon, the smallest of its kind inhabiting the British Islands, breeds 

 more or less regularly on the moors of northern England, in Wales, Scotland 

 and Ireland ; while their numbers are increased in autumn by the arrival of others 

 from the continent of Europe, over which it has a wide range, especially in the 

 northern and central portions, as well as in Central Asia. In winter it visits North 

 Africa, northern India, and China. 



The nest, if such it can be called, consists of a few twigs of ling arranged 

 round a hollow scooped out in the ground, either among heath on the open moor 

 or on a heathery brae by the side of a burn, while at times the eggs are laid on 

 a rocky ledge or in the deserted home of a Crow or some other species in a tree. 

 They are generally four in number, and of a rich red-brown or purplish-red colour. 



The Merlin, for its size, is one of the boldest of our Hawks, and will attack 

 birds twice its own weight, but its chief food consists of the smaller species, such 

 as Meadow-Pipits, Larks, Thrushes, Snipe, and other waders. 



About the month of October the Merlins leave the moors, some moving south- 

 wards, others merely descending to the coast, where they linger till the spring. 

 When hunting they strive to take their quarry by surprise, sweeping along by 

 the side of a bank or concealed by a fold in the ground, but though not so 

 swift as the Hobby, the Merlin can usually outfly and overhaul without diffi- 

 culty the smaller birds on which it preys. It seldom perches on trees ; stones 

 and rocks being its favourite resting-places, hence it is sometimes called the 

 Stone-Falcon. The Merlin is docile and easily tamed, but in confinement is 

 delicate and seldom lives beyond the first moult. It was, and still is, much 

 esteemed by falconers as a trained Hawk, and can be flown with success at Larks 

 and even larger quarry. 



The females, like so many birds of prey, are larger than the males, and occa- 

 sionally, when old, assume more or less the colours of the other sex. 



64 



