Taylor : The Habits of the Merlin. 1 17 
to fl\* up towards her, the prey in his talons, and drop it, when 
the female, with a neat swoop, would catch it before it reached 
the ground. 
An unusual exchange took place just above my head when 
the male gave the prey into the talons of the female in mid- 
air. 
A slow exposure was necessary at this nest, because of 
the bad light, but she would rarely keep still for an instant. 
I usually waited until the meal was quite over, when she would 
stand still for a fraction of a second before flying off. This 
chance, because of its brevity, I missed as often as not, 
only obtaining a few very poor results. 
Altogether I spent about a week at this nest, averaging 
about three exposures a day, for which I endured much dis- 
comfort. All four of the young grew up into fine young birds 
and I hope some of them are alive to-day. 
The fourth nest was on the top of a flat moor and, as, usual, 
in a deep clump of old heather. When first discovered by 
a keeper it contained four eggs, and I started off one morning 
with a tent and camera. As we neared the nest the hen flew off, 
and we found to our sorrow that all but one egg had been 
sucked, presumably by crows. We erected the tent and cov- 
ered it with heather until it appeared part of the landscape, 
and I settled down inside. Soon the rain poured down in 
torrents until the top of the tent was a pool of water many 
inches deep, the weight of which would have broken the pole 
but for my support. As it was I was in a state of apprehension 
lest it should start to leak through. About once an hour the 
Merlin flew over, kek-keking ; she flew low and did not seem 
inclined to return, possibly because she had only one egg 
left and did not think it a sufficient attraction. No visits were 
paid all day, and so in the evening we took up the tent, but she 
did not even then return, This we attributed to the sucking 
of the eggs, having known of similar cases with other birds. 
The fifth nest proved more interesting than all the other 
nests put together. It was very near the site formerly 
occupied by the first nest, and contained four young about a 
fortnight old. They were very vicious little fellows and would 
all lie on their backs with their claws in the air if one approached 
them. The hen bird, when not hunting or feeding, was always 
to be seen perched on a knoll of heather about 200 yards away. 
From this coign of vantage she kept watch, and as we 
approached she would take wing and soon be whirling over- 
head, kek-keking vehemently. I was astonished to see in 
the nest the remains of larger birds than I have ever seen 
before at any Merlin’s nest, the legs of a third-grown Lapwing 
and the wing of a mature Sandpiper. We erected the tent 
very carefully, with a view to making it as little conspicuous - 
1914 April 1. 
