so 
FALOONTD/R. 
FA P TORES. 
FA LCONTDJE. 
MERLIN. 
Falco ^salon. 
PLATE X. FIG. I. 
The eggs of the Merlin, as far as any notice occurs of 
their detection in this country, have been found deposited 
upon the ground, and chiefly upon those extensive heathy 
moors which abound in the north of England. Temminck, 
however, says that the Merlin breeds in trees ; and this, 
I think, is very probably the usual case in those districts 
which abound in wood. Were we to judge from the 
colour of its eggs, we should be led to expect that such 
was its usual habit, since the eggs of the other ground¬ 
building raptorial birds are white, or nearly so. These 
are, in their turn, represented amongst the arborial breeders 
by the white-tailed eagle and the goshawk, which lay 
eggs that are also white, or rarely slightly coloured. 
Whilst in Norway we had the eggs of a hawk brought to 
us which had been taken from a tree, and which I have 
not the least doubt were those of the Merlin, as they cor¬ 
respond exactly with the figure of the plate both in colour 
and in size, and were less than the usual eggs of the 
kestrel. We also noticed a pair of these birds in a thick 
part of the forest, which, during our stay in their neigh¬ 
bourhood, evinced so much of that solicitude which birds 
do on your approach to their nests, that we felt quite sure 
theirs could not be far distant. So thick and tangled 
were the trees and brushwood, that it was not till after a 
