Page "Merlin (bird)" Paragraph 1

Some regard the North American and Eurasian ( F. columbarius ) populations as two distinct species.

The first modern taxonomist to describe the Merlin was Carl Linnaeus, a Swede who reported his type specimen came from America.

Thirteen years after Linnaeus's description Marmaduke Tunstall recognized the Eurasian birds as a distinct taxon aesalon in his Ornithologica Britannica.

If two species of Merlins are recognized, the Old World birds would thus bear the scientific name F. aesalon.