MERLIN. 
O 1 
o I 
weary and laborious search that we were rewarded by its 
discovery. It was near the top of a tall spruce fir-tree, 
and had every appearance of having been newly made by 
the birds themselves. It was outwardly of sticks, thickly 
lined with wool. 
The Merlin, as far as my information goes, can scarcely 
be said to make a nest when it deposits its eggs upon the 
ground, laying them either upon the bare heather, or on a 
small quantity of dry grass; they are four or five in num¬ 
ber, and for the most part differ little from the plate; in 
their usual colouring they resemble one of the varieties 
of the eggs of the kestrel figured in the following plate, 
but are usually smaller, browner, and less bright in 
colour, very closely freckled, not spotted, and thickly 
sprinkled over with small black dots. 
Mr. Walter’s collection contains some eggs remarkable 
for their deep red-brown vinous colouring. 
Some of the varieties might more readily be mistaken 
for eggs of the kestrel. One sent me from a nest of five 
in the collection of Mr. Wolley, unfortunately too late to 
figure, is one of the most beautiful eggs I have ever seen. 
The ground colour is of a pure white, thickly blotched 
with crimson red. Similar eggs are also in the collection 
of Mr. John Hancock of Newcastle. 
