MERLIN. 
183 
Colonel Hawker in his " Diary" on January 26th, 1842, 
at Keyhaven " made a most brilliant shot at a merlin hawk 
that flew over me as swift as an arrow, and though at least 
fifty yards, I cut him down as dead as a stone with snipe 
shot." 
In the " Zoologist" for 1895, Mr. Corbin notes a female 
killed on the 27th of December, in the New Forest, whilst 
in the act of striking at a partridge ; he also remarks, 
that he has only once seen the bird (a male) in the summer 
months in the Forest. 
In the Hart collection are specimens procured in 
February, 1876; November, 1879; November, 1880; 
January and February, 188 1. 
The Alton Museum contains two specimens from the 
district. 
Munn saw one near Whitchurch on December 28th, 
1886, and specimens have also been seen in the neigh- 
bourhood of Stockbridge Downs, on Bransbury Common, 
and near North Litchfield, all in the winter. 
On May 28th, 1887, Mr. W. H. Turle took a nest in 
Doles Wood, to the north of Andover, with three eggs ; 
and the old birds nested there again later in the same 
year, and hatched four young ones. 
In 1888, a nest was reported to have been taken at 
Stubbington, near Fareham. 
Mr. Corbin records in the "Zoologist" for 1893, that 
the male of a pair was shot near Ringwood on September 
4th, 1893. 
Mr. Meade- Waldo ^ has noticed it in the neighbourhood 
of Basingstoke in the winter. 
In the Isle of Wight, Bury says - it is seen occasionally 
during the winter, but more frequently in the autumn. 
^ " Victoria History of Hants." - ZooIojTist.'' 1S44. 
