MERLIN.
CORWALCH, LLYMYSTEN, IN ANCIENT BRITISH.
Falco cssalon, PENNANT. MONTAGU. BEWICK. FLEMING.
Falco—To cut with a bill or hook.
AEsalon A species of Hawk, (Aristotle,) supposed to be the Merlin,
or the Sparrow-Hawk.
Through an Eagle, by comparison with some of the East
Indian species of Hawks, the Merlin is the smallest that occurs in
this country. In spirit it is 'nulli secundus,' inferior to none,
and was accordingly used in former times in falconry for the pursuit
of birds even much larger than itself, which it would frequently kill
by a single blow on the head, neck, or breast. The author of the 'Book
of Falconrie' says that they were 'passing good Hawks, and verie skilful.'
Unlike the Sparrow-Hawk and the Kestrel, if pursued by Swallows and
other small birds, it has been known, instead of flying from them,
to become in its turn the aggressor, and at once disperse them. Like
the Hobby, it has been captured by its dashing through a pane in the
window of a cottage, in pursuit of a yellow-hammer: not the first
'tuft hunter' who has split upon that rock.
This species appears to claim citizenship in all the four quarters
of the globe. In Europe it is known even as far north as Iceland and
Greenland, in the Ferroe Isles, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland,
Russia, Siberia, Spain, and the Islands of the Mediterranean, Germany,
and France; in North America; in Asia, in Asia Minor, India, Japan,
Persia, and Palestine; and in Africa so far south as the Cape of Good
Hope, from Algeria, Nubia, and Egypt. It is more frequently met with
in the northern than in the southern parts of England, though in neither
can it be said to be common. The former are its breeding districts.
In Yorkshire, it has very frequently occurred, especially in the West-Riding,
near Barnsley, and in other parts,—occasionally in Derbyshire.
In Sussex, it has been repeatedly noticed as a winter visitor in the
wilder and less cultivated districts. In Berkshire, I once myself
shot one, now many years ago. It was a beautiful female, flying up
a brook down which I was walking—an unfortunate 'rencontre'
for it,—and fell, apparently quite dead, as indeed it proved
to have been; but so remarkable was the similarity of its plumage
to the stones on which it had fallen at the side of the stream—a
novel appropriation of its name of Stone Falcon—that I the less
wondered at having before almost given up searching for it, and gone
away with the belief that it had not been killed but only wounded
and had run into some cover, than at finding it when I did. It is
considered rare in Cornwall, (one was shot there in 1849, November
9th., near Falmouth, and one near Penryn,) Devonshire, Dorsetshire,
Kent, one at Doddington, in 1840; Essex, and Norfolk. In Oxfordshire
at Wroxton and King's Sutton, etc.
It breeds in Yorkshire, on the moors near Guisborough in Cleveland,
as James Dalton, Esq., of Worcester College, Oxford, has informed
me, also in Northumberland, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and in Norfolk,
in Hockering wood, near Norwich, so the Rev. Granville Smith has written
me word. So too it has in Hampshire, in the New Forest, and in Devonshire,
on Exmoor, as also in Herefordshire, Essex, and Shropshire. It is
uncommonly met with in the neighbourhood of Swinhope, Lincolnshire,
as the Rev. R. P. Alington tells me. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns mentions
one recorded by Graves as having been killed in Cambridgeshire, one
was shot at Haddenham, December 6th., 1856. In Aberdeenshire, in East
Lothian, and other parts of Scotland, and in the Orkney and Shetland
Islands, it also breeds. In Ireland it is indigenous, both in the
northern and southern parts, throughout the whole of the year, but
would seem to be somewhat locally migratory. It breeds on the mountains
of the counties of Londonderry, Tyrone, and Down, as also in those
of Waterford, Cork, Tipperary, and Kerry. In Wales, on Cader Idris,
and in other parts.
The Merlin is partially migratory in this country, being for the most
part a constant resident in Scotland, Sutherlandshire, very frequently,
etc., and the northern parts of England, but appearing to be only
a winter visitant in the south. It has however, on one occasion, been
known to breed in the county of Suffolk, and probably may have been
overlooked in more frequent instances of the same kind in those wilder
districts, such as Dartmoor, which are suitable to it.
From a habit it has of perching on stones, it has acquired the name
of the Stone Falcon, and as such was formerly described as a distinct
species. It must have a fondness for the practice, for it carries
it out even on those rocks which are left partially prominent by the
receding tide, when hawking, as it sometimes does, on the margin of
the sea.
It is a very courageous bird—wild and shy, and according to
Tem-minck, is able to endure a high degree of cold, and is described
by him as being commonly found within the limits of the Arctic circle.
It is easily tamed, though it never becomes very familiar, and was
accordingly in former times employed in the chase. Except when the
young are hatched, it is difficult, on account of its wariness, to
be approached; it is only by accident that it is occasionally met
with within gun-shot.
The Merlin flies low, and with great ease and celerity. It suddenly
sweeps by, and is gone almost before you have had time to glance at
it, gliding along the side of a hedge or wood, and then over, or into
it, and sometimes affording a more lengthened view, by its flight
over the open fields, or the wide moor, where it may be seen following
its prey through many a devious track, according to the nature of
the ground. In pursuit of prey, says Sir William Jardine, the Merlin
does not often mount above it and rush down, as we have generally
seen the Peregrine, but at once gives chase, following the victim
through all its turns and windings to escape, and unless cover is
at hand, is generally successful.
Its principal food consists of birds; and it attacks and slays those
which are even double its own size, such as partridges, and also quails,
plovers, and pigeons, as well as larks, linnets, starlings, sandpipers,
snipes, chaffinches, blackbirds, swallows, thrushes, goldfinches,
and others which are smaller; as also cockchaffers and other insects.
In pursuit of shore birds, dunlins, ring dotterels, and others, it
will course them to the edge of, and sometimes even over the water.
It is so determined on and in the capture of its prey, that it is
difficult to mate it leave that which it has secured, and which it
often obtains by pouncing on it unawares, but also, as just said,
in the open air. The lesser birds it captures from the ground, but
those which are too large to be thus borne off, it can only surprise
when on the wing. It frequently perches on a stone or crag, flitting
from one to another, as if for the purpose of surveying all around
it, and when a flock of small birds comes within its ken, it singles
out one from the rest, and is not attracted from it to any of the
others. A lark, pursued by one of these hawks, came from about a distance
of a hundred yards to a gentleman who was shooting in company with
his servant, and alighted close to their feet, in a state, at the
time, of such exhaustion that it was unable even to close its wings.
The nest is generally, in this country at least, built on the ground
on open moors or heaths, frequently on the side of a ravine, in a
tuft of heath or projection of a rock or bank, and when this is the
case, is composed of very scanty materials—a few sticks, with
heather, grass, or moss-—the bare ground almost sufficing for
the purpose. In other countries it appears, occasionally at all events,
to be built in trees, and is then made of sticks, and lined with wool,
the nest of some other bird being not unoften occupied. In the Orkney
and Shetland Islands, it is placed among precipitous and inaccessible
rocks.
The eggs are three, four, or five, in number; Bewick says six; and
Temminck five or six. They are bluish white, blotted, particularly
at the thicker end, with deep reddish brown or greenish brown. They
vary, however, much in colour. Some of the varieties are often similar
to those of the Kestrel or Peregrine, others to those of the Sparrow-Hawk,
but still more to those of the Hobby. They are of course, however,
rather smaller than the former, and also, in this variety, browner
in colour and more closely spotted with small dots. One has been obtained
of a rich crimson red, blotted with a darker shade of the same. One
blotted with the like colour on a white ground, and another, of a
cream colour, partially so with purple-red and violet. The female
sits close at first, but if disturbed or alarmed more than once, becomes
extremely shy. The male takes up a position near at hand on the top
of some eminence, from whence he can perceive the approach of any
intruder, of which he gives notice by shrill cries of alarm.
Montagu says that an instance has been known of a Merlin building
in a deserted crow's nest.
The male and female differ generally but little in size, compared
with others of the Hawks, and most other common birds.
Male; weight, from five to six ounces. Length, from eleven inches
to a foot, or twelve inches and a half; (one described by Montagu
was only ten inches long.) Bill, short, strong, pale blue at the base,
blackish blue at the tip; cere, dull yellow; iris, dark brown; (one
shot at Osberton, Nottinghamshire, and described by G. S. Foljambe,
Esq., had the iris yellow.) Head, large, broad, and flat; forehead
and sides of the head, greyish white—the latter lined with black.
There is a greyish white band over the eye, margined beneath with
black. Crown, dark bluish or brownish grey, each feather streaked
with black in the centre. Neck, short and thick-set, dull yellowish
red, encircled with a reddish brown ring, spotted or streaked with
black. From the corners of the mouth descend on each side a few black
streaks, forming, though faintly, the moustache borne by all the true
Falcons. Nape, banded with pale red; chin, white; throat, white, or
greyish, or buff white; breast, dull yellowish red, sometimes deep
orange brown; the shafts and a spot towards the end, dark brown. Back,
deep greyish blue, lighter towards the tail—the feathers streaked
in the centre with black, as are all the other bluish feathers of
the back.
The wings, which, when closed, reach from within an inch and a quarter
to two inches of the end of the tail, and expand to about two feet
four inches, have the primaries black, or blackish or bluish brown,
tinged with grey—the outer margin of the first spotted with
white, the inner webs spotted transversely with white; underneath
they are of a paler colour, barred with white: the third feather is
the longest, but the second is nearly as long; the fourth a little
longer than the first; the fifth an inch shorter; secondaries, deep
greyish blue, and curved inwards—the shafts black; tertiaries
also greyish blue. Greater and lesser wing coverts, bluish grey—the
shafts of the feathers black; greater and lesser under wing coverts,
yellowish white, with dusky spots and streaks. The tail bluish grey;
it generally has, but is sometimes without, from even only one, but
commonly from three or five, to six, and, according to Pennant, eight,
and even thirteen dark bands; viz: —in the proportion of six
on the middle feathers, to eight (probably age is the cause of the
gradual difference in their number,) on the side ones, but which merge
apparently into the smaller-named number —the last being the
largest and darkest. The tail feathers are twelve in number, being
of nearly equal length, broad, and rounded: the tip is white, underneath
it is barred with darker and lighter shades of grey, with the broad
band and white tip. Legs, yellow, feathered in front more than one-third
down, and reticulated. The feathers are rufous, with dusky streaks;
toes, yellow; the first the shortest; the third the longest; the fourth
a little longer than the second: the front ones are connected at the
base by a short membrane; claws, black.
The female varies sometimes considerably from the male; weight, about
nine ounces; length, about twelve inches and a half, occasionally
as much as thirteen and a half or fourteen inches; bill, light leaden
blue, tipped with black. From the angle of the mouth extends a band
of brown, formed by the markings on the middle of the feathers; cere,
yellow; iris, yellow; forehead, yellowish white; a yellowish line
edged on the under side with blackish brown, extends over the eye;
head, dark rufous brown, the feathers edged at the tip with red; crown,
reddish brown, with dusky black streaks down the shafts of the feathers;
neck, behind, yellowish white, the feathers tipped with brown: there
is an indistinct ring round it of yellowish white, streaked and spotted
with dusky brown. The nape reddish brown, inclining to rufous; chin
and throat, white or yellowish white, the feathers on the side being
tipped with brown; breast, pale reddish yellow, or brownish or yellowish
white, marked with many oblong spots of dark brown, larger than those
of the male; back, brown mixed with rufous, the shaft and centre of
each feather being darker, and the edge tipped with red; greater wing
coverts, brown, edged with dull yellowish white or light rufous, the
centre of the feathers being grey; lesser wing coverts, greyish brown,
bordered with rufous, the shafts being black. Primaries, secondaries,
and tertiaries, brownish black, spotted with light red spots on both
the webs, and edged with red, the tips the same colour of a paler
shade. Greater and lesser under wing coverts, brownish red, spotted
and edged with yellowish white. The tail, which is greyish brown,
or dusky, has five bars of very pale reddish brown or yellowish white
spots, and the tip banded with greyish white; the side feathers have
two light bars at the base; upper tail coverts, reddish brown, edged
with dull yellowish white; under tail coverts, white, with the exception
of the feathers on the sides, which have each a line of brown. Legs,
yellow, the long feathers streaked with brown, the shorter ones nearly
white; toes, yellow; claws, black.
The young birds when fully fledged, most resemble the adult female,
but are lighter in colour; the males however less so than the females,
and tinged with blue on the back. The former gradually assume more
blue, but the latter change less. The centre of the feathers in the
immature birds is dark brown edged with rufous, instead of being marked
in the centre with grey. Bill, as in the adults; cere, dull yellow.
A yellowish line extends over the eye; iris, brown, but subject to
variations of shade, according to Selby; forehead, yellowish white;
head streaked on the sides, which are yellowish red, with brown, and
a band of the latter colour descends from the angle of the mouth;
neck, yellowish behind, the feathers tipped with brown; chin, yellowish
white; throat, yellowish white, the shafts of the feathers brown;
breast, pale reddish yellow, streaked longitudinally with brown; back
dark brown, slightly tinged with blue, the feathers edged and marked
with pale yellowish-red in obscure spots, and streaked in the centre
with dark brown or black; greater wing coverts, spotted with light
reddish spots, and tipped with the same; primaries, very dark brown,
indis-tinctly spotted on the outer webs with pale yellowish red, and
tipped with the same, but paler; secondaries, spotted in the same
manner on both webs; tail, dark brown, barred with five distinct bands
composed of pale reddish brown spots; the tip is reddish or greyish
white: there are three other bars near the base; under tail coverts,
partially streaked with a narrow brown line near the end; legs, dull
yellow, the feathers marked with a brown streak.
The males vary in colour as they advance in age, the blue on the back
being tinged with brown at first, and becoming gradually of a purer
hue. In some specimens the breast is of a light yellowish red, and
in others deep orange brown. In some the tail is without the dark
bands, except the last and broadest one; and in others the middle
feathers are without them, while they are apparent on the rest.
The females differ less than the males, but assume more of the character
of the plumage of the latter, especially on the upper parts, as they
advance in age.
"A Merlin sat upon her wrist, Held by a leash of silken twist.
And at her whistle, on her hand The Falcon took his favourite stand,
Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye, Nor though un-hooded sought
to fly."
The Lady of the Lake.