FALCO A3SALON, Omei.
Merlin.
Accipiter litho/alco, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 349.
— eesalon, Briss. ibid., p. 382.
Falco litho/alco, Gmel. edit, of Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 278.
■ eesalon, Gmel. ibid., p. 284.
— S ib ir ie n s , Shaw, Gen. ZooL, vol. vii. p. 207.
— ceesius, Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch. Vögelk., tom. i. p. 60.
-Tr- subeesalon, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 60.
AEsalon litho/alco, Kaup, Ueb. Falk. Mus. Seock., p. 268.
Hypotnorehis eesalon, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 20, Hypotnorehis, sp. 10.
T he persecution to which the Falconidse have o f late years been unrelentingly subjected has reduced the
numbers of the various species to a p a r ; but, if there be any difference in this respect, perhaps the Merlin is
more frequently seen than any other o f them, with the exception o f the Kestrel and the Sparrow-Hawk. Not
that the individuals are more numerous than iu former years, but that its secluded habits, the wild situations
it affects, and its power o f rapid flight have tended to its preservation, and enabled the Merlin to hold its
own, while the other Hawks have fallen victims to the traps and destroying devices o f the keeper. The
destruction o f so many o f 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 o f nature. I t must not be understood
that I am advocatiug the wholesale slaughter o f the little birds j 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. As a 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 r a t to such an extent that
on some estates it has become a positive pest. A better animal for freeing the wheat-rick o f rats and mice
cannot be found thau the Weasel: what folly then to utterly extirpate an animal whose only offence is that
o f now and then causing the death o f a hare o r young pheasant, and th at only when the destructive rabbits,
rats, and mice do not afford opportunities for its peculiar mode o f sustenance!
Unlike the Hobby, whose habits lead it to frequent woodland districts, o r the Peregrine, which gives
preference to rocks and trees in the neighbourhood o f 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 Falcon. 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 o f a stone o r bunch o f heath. Here, on the bleak hill-side,
the white nestling first sees the lig h t; here, far away from the haunts o f 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 o f these vigilant birds. The romantic hills o f Wales, the Peak and other wild districts of
Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties, the stouy moorlands o f Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and
Durham, the Cheviots, the Grampians, the savage hills o f Ross-shirc and Sutherland, and all similar districts
in Ireland are the summer resorts o f the Merlin. In winter both old and young leave these wild retreats
for the more genial climate o f the lowlands. I t is then that we see him in the more cultivated districts; it
is then that the little birds o f the hedge-row and the stubble-field—the Greenfinch, the Banting, and the
Lark—have tbeir numbers lessened by the sudden dash o f the Merlin ; it is then that the flock o f 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 o f its members. Slily indeed does the Merlin sweep close to the
ground, with noiseless wing, toward the flock he has espied from some neighbouring tre e ; to the sea-shore,
where the and the S tint trip over the bare shingle, o r patter over the oozy mud, the Merlin also pays a
foraging visit. To say th at it is more numerous in one p art o f England than another would not be consistent
with tru th ; ; hough 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, die Orkneys, and Shetland. Its range also extends to Iceland. In America it is
replaced by the nearly ¡dsed, but yet perfectly distiuct, Falco columbaritu. In Norway, Sweden, and 1 inland
it is numerous in summer, and even far beyond, within the arctic circle. On the continent of Europe
it is a bird o f the wilder uart o f the various countries, as it also is of Algeria ami »»any other portions
of North Africa. Mr. «Ierd»m states that it is a very rare visitor to the north part of Western India,