i88 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
are so systematically shot down, that few of them probably 
reach the mature age when the female assumes a dress like 
that of her mate. As a rule, the female Merlin is Iprown, the 
tail-feathers being also brown, tipped with white, and crossed 
with five bands of paler brown ; the under surface of the body 
whitish, stieakcd with dark brown, lotal length, 12 inches j 
culmen, o-g j wing, 8-8 ; tail, 5-5 ; tarsus, 1-5. 
Young Birds.— General colour above brown, with a slight shade 
of ashy-grey, paler on the rump, all the feathers margined with 
pale sandy-rufous, the secondaries with concealed bars of the 
same colour ; forehead, eyebrow, and car-coverts whitish, 
narrowly streaked with black, the latter brownish on the 
hinder part, which is slightly washed with rufous ; throat 
creamy-white, with narrow and indistinct shaft-lines of brown ; 
remainder of under surface of body whitish, with broad streaks 
of reddish-brown, the black shaft-stripes very distinct ; thighs 
with smaller brown spots, and the abdomen and under tail- 
coverts with only a few brown markings ; sides of body reddish- 
brown, marbled with large white spots; under wing-coverts 
also reddish brown, with white spots like the sides of the body ; 
quills dark brown, notched on the inner web, and spotted on 
the outer one with rufous ; tail dark brown, tipped with 
whitish, and barred with pale rufous. 
Range in Great Britain. — A resident species in Great Britain, 
breeding on the mountain moorlands and descending to 
more cultivated districts at lower elevations in winter, thoiigli 
a considerable migration of the young birds from the shores 
of England undoubtedly takes place. It is believed to nest 
on Exmoor, but its regular breeding-haunts commence with 
the moors of Derbyshire and North Wales, and extend thence 
northwards to the Shetland Isles. The record of its breeding 
in some of the more southern counties, though frequently 
stated, needs confirmation in many instances. In Ireland 
Mr. R. J. Usshcr says that ‘‘it breeds sparingly in about twenty- 
two counties in the mountain districts, and also in some parti 
of the great red bogs of the central plain.” 
Range outside the British Islands.— The Merlin inhabits the 
mountain districts of Northern Europe, and breeds also in 
Iceland and the fairoes, being resident in the last named 
