FALCO ASALO N, Gmel.
Merlin.

Aceipiter lithofalco, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 349,
esalon, Briss. ibid., p. 382.

Falco lithofalco, Gmel. edit. of Linn. Syst. Nat.,

esalon, Gmel. ibid., p. 284,

sibiricus, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 207.

cesius, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch. Vogelk., tom. i. p. 60.

subesalon, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 60.

Aisalon lithofalco, Kaup, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Senck., p. 258,

Hypotriorchis esalon, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 20, Hypotriorchis, sp. 10.

tom. i. p. 278.

Ni

 

 

 

 

a ee

Tue persecution to which the Falconide have of |

ate years been unrelentingly subjected has reduced the
numbers of the various species to a par ;

but, if there be any difference in this respect, 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
it affects, and its power of rapid flight have tende
own, while the other Hawks have fallen

wild situations
d to its preservation, and enabled the Merlin to hold its
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. Asa 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 the wheat-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 open moor and the fell ;
and the more wild and desolate the district, the greater is its charm for this bold little Faleon. 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 members.  Slily indeed aoe: the Merlin sweep close to the
ground, with noiseless wing, toward the flock he has espied from some neighbouring tree ; to ite 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 conser
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 eden In IC it is
replaced by the nearly allied, but yet perfectly distinct, Fa/co columbarius. In Norway, Sweden, and oe
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 portions
of North Africa. Mr. Jerdon states that it is a very rare visitor to the north part of Western India,