CHAPTER VII 
EXTRACTS FROM PROFESSOR MACGILLIVRAY’s WORKS, 
DESCRIPTIVE OF BIRD LIFE, OF PERSONAL 
ADVENTURE FOR SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION, OF 
PICTURESQUE SCENES, ETC. 
1.—The Merlin 
On the side of the Lammer-Law, the highest hill of 
the low range that extends from the County of 
Peebles towards St Abb’s Head, near the brink of 
a scar which has been worn deep in the gravelly 
soil by the undermining action of a rill, is a nest of 
the merlin, if nest that can be called which is 
merely a little flat space, strewn with a few sticks 
and withered sedges. You hear the hungry plaint 
of the young as the morning dawn rouses them from 
their slumbers. See! the mother advances a few 
steps, stretches her wings, shakes herself, inspects 
her plumage, trims a bent feather in her tail, picks 
a little clot of peat from her toe, eyes the heavens 
slantingly, and, throwing herself forward, spreads 
out her beautiful pinions and, launching into the 
air, ascends a few yards by strong flappings. How 
lightly she wheels on her circling flight, as she 
