13-2 
MERLIN. 
pinnacle, and on the approach of an intruder, 
gives notice by his very shrill cries and rapid 
flight around ; he is wary, and unless when the 
young are hatched, does not come within range. 
I have never seen the nest in any other situation 
than that above described ; never on trees, as 
mentioned by some writers, Temminck, &c. and 
who acknowledge their information to be derived 
from others. It is, however, probable, that in a 
country much wooded, a change of situation may 
be chosen. I have frequently found from one to 
three eyries in a forenoon’s walk over a country 
which they frequented. They keep healthy in 
confinement with ordinary care to their food and 
cleanliness ; become tame, but not familiar ; and 
form a beautiful addition to a collection. 
The adult plumage of the male is very rich. 
The head, back, shoulders, secondaries, rump, 
and base of the tail, are a fine blackish grey, very 
deep on the crown, and having there, and on the 
back or rump, the feathers marked along their 
shafts with a streak of black ; the back of the 
neck is reddish orange, having the centres of the 
feathers greyish black ; the auricular feathers are 
yellowish white, tinted with rufous, marked with 
greyish black along the shafts, and at their pos- 
terior tips are nearly of that colour entirely ; a 
pale streak passes over each eye, stretches over the 
auriculars, and sometimes joins the rufous part on 
