178 
NATURAL HISTORY 
The sparrow-hawk is very numerous in various parts 
of the world, from Russia to the Cape of Good Hope. ' 
It can easily he made obedient and docile, and trained to ' 
hunt partridges and quails; it makes great destruction 
among pigeons, young poultry, and small birds of all 
kinds, which it will attack and carry off in the most dar- 
ing manner. 
Merlin. (PI. 26.) The merlin is the smallest of the 
hawk kind, scarcely exceeding the size of a blackbird. 
Its bill is blue; cere and irides yellow: the head is of a 
rust colour, streaked with black, and edged with rust co- 
lour: quill feathers dark, tipped and margined in the 
inner webs with reddish white; the breast and belly are 
of a yellowish white, with streaks of rusty brown point- 
ing downwards; the tail is long, and marked with alter- 
nate dusky and pale bars; the wings, when closed, do not 
reach quite to the end of the tail: the legs are yellow; 
and claws black. 
This bird, though small, is not inferior in courage to 
any of the falcon tribe. It was used for taking larks, , 
partridges, and quails, which it would frequently kill by 
one blow, striking them on the breast, head, or neck. 
This bird differs from the falcons, and all the rapacious 
kind, in the male and female being of the same size. 
The merlin flies low, and with great celerity and ease. 
It preys on small birds, and breeds in woods, laying five 
or six eggs. 
Owl. (Strix. PI. 26.) All birds of the owl kind may 
be considered as nocturnal robbers, who, unfitted for tak- 
ing their prey while it is light, surprise it at those hours 
of rest when the tribes of Nature are least in expec^ 
tation of an enemy. It is not, however, as some have 
imagined, in the darkest nights, but in the dusk of even- 
ing or the dawn of morning that they are best fitted for 
seeing. It is then they come abroad in quest of plunder; 
and they carefully return to their retreats before the 
broad day-light begins to dazzle them with its splen- 
dour. 
The larger animals of this tribe are called horned owls, 
from the circumstance of two or three feathers standing 
