THE MEKLIN. 
27 
shelter among tlu in, and partly, it is to be presumed, for the 
good outlook upon the well-stocked poultry yards below. 
The ]\Ierlin is very easily tamed, and soon becomes a most 
docile and intelligent pet. I remember one which was allowed 
full liberty, and could at any time be instantly recalled by 
waving about in the sunlight a tin basin in which the food 
was usually kept. The distance at which this was perceived, 
and the rapidity of the return home, would appear almost 
incredible if described. 
Falcons kept in confinement are liable to a peculiar disease 
of the feet, which often renders the bird useless, and indeed 
sometimes even proves fatal. I have always been able to 
prevent it, and sometimes to effect a cure, by allowing the bird 
a wider perch, or even a large stone with a rounded top; for it 
is easy to perceive how readily, after a while, the soles of the 
feet may become injured by the claws, when the perch is not 
sufficiently wide to prevent the two from coming into contact. 
This fact may be well known to falconers and others, but it 
was so long before I was able to ascertain the nature of the so- 
called disease, that I here mention it for the benefit of others 
in similar perplexity. 
THE KESTEEL. 
Falco tinnunculus. 
MAALIX. 
The Kestrel so very rarely falls into the hands of the 
Shetland people, that, for want of the opportunity of observing 
it closely, they consider it to be identical with the last species, 
merely regarding it as an unusually red coloured “ maalin,” — 
an appellation, by the way, which also includes the sparrow- 
hawk. 
With us it is migratory and local in its habits, appearing in 
comparatively small numbers in spring, and usually resorting 
to the same cliffs year after year for the purpose of Iweeding. 
