. A history of British birds . 74 ACVlPITREf<. FALCON :. FALCON I Falco ^salon, Gmeliii*.THE MERLIN. Fah-u lemlon. The Merlin, in some parts of the country known as the Stone-Falcon, is one of the smallest of the British Falco-niche, and being of rapid flight and great courage, possesses, ona diminished scale, all the attributes and characters of a trueFalcon. So bold as well as powerful, in proportion to hissize, is this little bird, that a male Merlin, not weighingmore than six ounces, has been seen to strike and kill aPartridge that was certainly more than twice his own weight;

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. A history of British birds . 74 ACVlPITREf<. FALCON :. FALCON I Falco ^salon, Gmeliii*.THE MERLIN. Fah-u lemlon. The Merlin, in some parts of the country known as the Stone-Falcon, is one of the smallest of the British Falco-niche, and being of rapid flight and great courage, possesses, ona diminished scale, all the attributes and characters of a trueFalcon. So bold as well as powerful, in proportion to hissize, is this little bird, that a male Merlin, not weighingmore than six ounces, has been seen to strike and kill aPartridge that was certainly more than twice his own weight;and so tenacious generally is he of his prey, that it is verydifficult to make him quit anything he has taken. The more * Syst. Nat. i. p. 28i (1788). MERLIN. 75 cuuiiiioii food of species is small birds, and they have beenseen in chase of the smaller shore-birds, as the Sanderlingand Dunlin. The Merlin was formerly often, and is now occasion-ally, trained; and will take Snipes, Larks, Blackbirdsand Thrushes. Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick say: Thestrongest female Merlins may

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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds