. A history of British birds. Birds. MERLIN. 41 with darker brown; tail-feathers brown^ barred with rufous-brown and tipped with creamy white; the underparts whitish, broadly striped with dark brown, becoming almost pure white on the throat. The Merlin has several near allies. On the American continent it is represented by a species divisible into three races, which Mr. Ridgeway treats as only varieties of the European species—F. columbarius, F. richard- soni, and F. suckleyi. These races breed in the northern portion of the American continent, in the Atlantic region, the region of the plains,
. A history of British birds. Birds. MERLIN. 41 with darker brown; tail-feathers brown^ barred with rufous-brown and tipped with creamy white; the underparts whitish, broadly striped with dark brown, becoming almost pure white on the throat. The Merlin has several near allies. On the American continent it is represented by a species divisible into three races, which Mr. Ridgeway treats as only varieties of the European species—F. columbarius, F. richard- soni, and F. suckleyi. These races breed in the northern portion of the American continent, in the Atlantic region, the region of the plains, and the region of the north-west coast respectively. They are all browner and darker than our bird, and have the black spots on the tail developed into transverse bars, which in F. suckleyi are almost confluent. In the Old World there are two tropical forms of the Merlin, which, however, appear to have become weU-defined species, F. chicquera inhabiting India, and F. ruficollis Africa. They may at once be distinguished from the Merlin by having the entire head and neck chestnut. They are, however, so nearly allied to each other that by some ornithologists they are considered one species; the African race is said to be paler, and to have the bars on the breast closer Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Seebohm, Henry, 1832-1895. London, Pub. for the author by R. H. Porter [etc. ]
Size: 1910px × 1308px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883
