Plate LXXV. Young Male and Female. Plate XCII. Adult Male.
Wings from two to three inches shorter than the tail, on the middle
feathers of which are five, on the lateral six broad whitish bands.
Adult male with the cere greenish-yellow, the feet pale orange, the
upper parts light bluish-grey, each feather with a black central line;
lower parts reddish or yellowish white, the breast and sides with
large oblong brown spots; tibial feathers light red, streaked with
blackish-brown. Female with the cere and legs greenish-yellow, the
upper parts dark greyish-brown, the lower pale red, spotted as in the
male. Young with the head light reddish-brown, streaked with dusky,
the upper parts brownish-grey, the feathers margined and spotted with
pale red, throat white, lower parts pale red, streaked with brown. The
tail-bands vary from pale red to white.
This species is so nearly allied to _Falco Æsalon_, that it is
extremely difficult to distinguish many individuals. The number and
form of the scutella differ; but the most certain distinctive
character is found in the light-coloured bands of the tail, which are
more numerous in the Merlin, there being seven on its middle, and nine
on its lateral tail-feathers.
_Male_, 10-3/4, 27. _Female_, 14, 30.
From Texas northward. Breeds in the Labrador and Arctic regions.
Abundant. Migratory.
Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. ii. p.
107.
Falco columbarius, Bonap. Syn. p. 38.
Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 60.
Little Corporal Hawk, Falco temerarius, Nutt. Man. v. i. p.
61. Adult Male.
Falco columbarius, Pigeon Hawk, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 35.
Falco Æsalon, Merlin, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p.
37.
Pigeon Hawk, Falco columbarius, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 466;
Young, v. i. p. 381, Male; v. v. p. 368.