throughout Norway, and the northern part of Sweden, as
well as in Finland. Thence it ranges across Russia and
Siberia, to the Sea of Ochotsk, where Dr. von Middendorff
found it breeding, hut it is said not to be very numerous in
Eastern Siberia, and the specimens described thence by Herr
Radde differed slightly from European ones. I t does not
seem to have been observed in Japan, hut Mr. Swinlioe has
met with it several times in China. In India it visits the
Punjaub, and upper portions of the North-west Provinces in
the cold weather, and Mr. Jerdon says it is trained to fly at ;
the Hoopoe, and also at Quails. I t has been found at
Erzeroum, and Avas obtained in winter at Smyrna by the late
Mr. H. E. Strickland. In Palestine it is not uncommon at
the same season, as is also the case in Egypt. Dr. Hartmann
found it in northern Nubia, and the Leyden Museum
possess a specimen from Khartoum. Loclie records it as !
breeding in Algeria, but the statement seems open to doubt.
I t occurs, generally at the season of migration, in most, if
not all, of the principal islands of the Mediterranean, and is
not uncommon in winter in Spain. Throughout Europe it
is pretty universally distributed, hut the southern limits of
its breeding-range cannot at present he accurately defined.
The Merlin makes its scanty nest on the ground, in rocks,
or occupies that of some other bird in a tree. The first is j
the mode it usually follows in Britain, hut in Lapland the
last is as commonly its practice. I t lays from four to six
eggs, which are sometimes uniformly suffused with a deep
brick-red, often varied, however, by mottling of a darker
shade, a slight purple tint pervading the whole. Very beautiful
varieties are occasionally seen; a nest of six from
Sutherland, in the Wolley Collection, are thickly blotched
with crimson-red on a white ground, while another is of a
cream-colour, partially blotched with purplish-red and violet.
They measure from 1‘6 to D48 by P ‘24 to D15 in.
The Merlin measures from ten to twelve inches in length,
according to the sex. An old male has the beak bluish horn-
colour, palest at the base, darkest towards the tip ; the cere
yellow, the irides dark brown; the top of the head blue-
MEKLIN. 77
grey, with dark lines passing backward; the cheeks, and
thence round the hack of the neck, pale reddish-brown, also
marked with dark streaks, forming a collar ; the whole of
the back and wing-coverts fine blue-grey, the shaft of each
feather forming a dark median line ; primaries pitch-black ;
upper surface of the tail-feathers bluish-grey over two-thirds
of their length, with slight indications of three dark hands,
the distal third nearly uniform black, the tips of all the
feathers white; the chin and throat white; breast, belly,
thighs, and under tail-coverts, rufous, with brown median
patches, and darker brown streaks; under surface of the
tail-feathers barred with two shades of grey, a broad dark
terminal band, and white tips ; legs and toes yellow ; claws
black.
In the female, the top of the head, back, wing-coverts,
and secondaries are dark liver-brown, the shaft of each
feather darker, the edge tipped with re d ; the tail-feathers
brown,, with five narrow transverse bars of wood-hrown;
under surface of the body pale brownish-white, with darker
brown longitudinal patches; the beak, cere, eyes, legs, toes,
and claws as in the male. Young males resemble the
females; and in birds of the year, the wings do not reach so
far towards the end of the tail as in those that are adult.
A*—