FALCO .ESALON, Gmel. 
Merlin. 
Accipiter lithofalco, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 349. 
asalon, Briss. ibid., p. 382. 
Falco lithofalco, Gmel. edit, of Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 278. 
asalon, Gmel. ibid., p. 284. 
sibiricus, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 207. 
casiiis, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch. Vbgelk., tom. i. p. 60. 
suhasalon, Brehm, Vbg. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 60. 
JEsalon lithofalco, Kaup, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck., p. 258. 
Hypotriorchis cesalon, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 20, Hypotriorchis, sp. 10. 
The persecution to which the Falconidee have of late years been unrelentingly subjected has reduced the 
numbers of the various species to a par ; but, if there be any difference in this pespect, perhaps the Merlin is 
more frequently seen than any other of them, with the exception of the Kestrel and the Sparrow-Hawk. Not 
that the individuals are more numerous than in former years, but that its secluded habits, the wild situations 
it affects, and its power of rapid flight have tended to its preservation, and enabled the Merlin to hold its 
own, while the other Hawks have fallen victims to the traps and destroying devices of the keeper. The 
destruction of so many of the Raptorial birds is, in my opinion, greatly to be regretted ; for without them the 
smaller birds are not under that salutary check necessary for the balance of nature. It must not be understood 
that I am advocating the wholesale slaughter of the little birds ; neither do I wish to assert that man should 
not exercise his judgment on this point, and take upon himself the office the Raptorial birds were designed 
to perform : if his measures be tempered with mercy, no great harm will be done. As a proof that we 
are wrong in extirpating the predatory animals, I may state that one consequence of the persecution to 
which the Weasel has been subjected is the increase of the destructive Norway rat to such an extent that 
on some estates it has become a positive pest. A better animal for freeing tbe wbeat-rick of rats and mice 
cannot be found than the Weasel : what folly then to utterly extirpate an animal whose only offence is that 
of now and then causing the death of a hare or young pheasant, and that only when the destructive rabbits, 
rats, and mice do not afford opportunities for its peculiar mode of sustenance ! 
Unlike the Hobby, whose habits lead it to frequent woodland districts, or the Peregrine, which gives 
preference to rocks and trees in the neighbourhood of water, the Merlin affects the o])en moor and the fell ; 
and the more wild and desolate the district, the greater is its charm for this bold little Falcon. In such 
situations it breeds and nurtures its young, making its\ nest (if a few crossed stalks of ling can so be called) 
generally on the bare ground, often by the side of a stone or bunch of heath. Here, on the bleak hill-side, 
the white nestling first sees the light ; here, far away from the haunts of man, do the parents sally forth to 
keep their charge supplied with fresh-killed Titlarks, Linnets, or any other small species that may 
catch the eyes of these vigilant birds. The romantic hills of Wales, the Peak and other wild districts of 
Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties, the stony moorlands of Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and 
Durham, the Cheviots, the Grampians, the savage hills of Ross-shire and Sutherland, and all similar districts 
in Ireland are the summer resorts of the Merlin. In winter both old and young leave these wild retreats 
for the more genial climate of the lowlands. It is then that we see him in the more cultivated districts ; It 
is then that the little birds of the hedge-row and the stubble-field — the Greenfinch, the Bunting, and the 
Lark — have their numbers lessened by the sudden dash of the Merlin ; it is then that the flock of Starlings, 
so busily engaged in searching for grubs in the grass- field, is stealthily approached, and scattered, terror- 
stricken, by his successful raid upon one of its memhers. Slily indeed does the Merlin sweep close to the 
ground, with noiseless wing, toward the flock he has espied from some neighbouring tree ; to the sea-shore, 
where the Dunlin and the Stint trip over the bare shingle, or patter over the oozy mud, the Merlin also pays a 
foraging visit. To say that it is more numerous in one part of England than another would not be consistent 
with truth ; for, although nowhere abundant, it is found during winter in every quarter, from the Scilly 
Islands to Northumberland, whence It retires in summer to the uplands, and particularly to the northern 
counties of Scotland, the Orkneys, and Shetland. Its range also extends to Iceland. In America it is 
replaced by the nearly allied, but yet perfectly distinct, Falco columharim. In Norway, Sweden, and Finland 
it is numerous in summer, and even far beyond, within the arctic circle. On the continent of Europe 
it is a bird of the wilder part of the various countries, as it also is of Algeria and many other ])ortions 
of North Africa. Mr. Jerdon states that it is a very rare visitor to the north part of Western India, 
