| GENUS MERGUS. | ||
| Species 1 | Merganser | Goosander |
| 2 | Castor | Dun Diver |
| 3 | Serrator | Less Dun Diver |
| 4 | Albellus | Smew |
| 5 | ———— | Lough Diver |
| 6 | Minutus | Red-headed Smew. |
For a particular description of each species, vide Bewick, Montagu, &c. &c.
Merlin, s. A kind of hawk.
The Merlin—(Falco Æsalon, Linn.; L’Emerillon, Buff.)—The smallest of all the hawk kind, scarcely exceeding the size of a black bird. Its bill is blue; cere and irides yellow; the head is of a rust colour, streaked with black; back and wings of a deepish brown, tinged with ash, streaked down the shafts with black, and edged with rust colour: quill feathers dark tipped and margined on the inner webs with reddish white: the breast and belly are of a yellowish white, with streaks of rusty brown pointing downwards; the tail is long, and marked with alternate dusky and pale bars; the wings, when closed, do not reach quite to the end of the tail; the legs are yellow; claws black.
The merlin, though small, is not inferior in courage to any of the falcon tribe. It was used for taking larks, partridges, and quails, which it would frequently kill by one blow, striking them on the breast, head, or neck. Buffon observes, that this bird differs from the falcons, and all the rapacious kind, in the male and female being of the same size. The merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October; it flies low, and with great celerity and ease. It preys on small birds, and breeds in woods, laying five or six eggs.
Merrythought, s. A forked bone in the body of fowls.
Mesentery, s. That round which the guts are convolved.
Mesh, s. The space between the threads of a net.
Mesh, v. To catch in a net; to insnare.