trace this out, as we should do, by fixing a point for the centre, around
iC y ’

radius of ircle. It does not ; ae
peers © rches on the circumference with its claws, and

1 ° “ecumference: on the contrary, it pe
which to draw the circumference : oe ce
works with its bill from the centre outwards; and hence it 3s that in the numerous excavations recently
= 5 5 ~ >» » *
we have uniformly found the termination funnel-shaped, the centre
nan the circumference. The bird consequently assumes all positions
roof of the gallery with its back downwards, as often as

commenced, which we have examined,
being always much more scooped out tl
while at work in the interior, hanging from the ae en
© nr . 5 > TPP 4) c=! ie > W 1e De ~ T 7 o
standing upon the floor. We have more than once, indeed, seen a Bank-Martin eling y
2 s ss =a 2 e way he « thta
f a sand-bank, when it was Just breaking ground to begin its gallery. All the
less tortuous to their termination, which is at the depth of from two
e smaller breast-feathers of geese, ducks, or fowls

this manner on the face o
galleries are found to be more or
6 three feet, where a bed of loose hay and a few of th
is spread with little art for the reception of the eggs. ant
‘th its feet the sand detached by the bill; but so carefully is this performed, that it
plane of the floor, which rather slopes upwards, and

It may not be unimportant to remark, also, that

it always scrapes out w
never scratches up the unmined sand, or disturbs the
of course the lodgement of rain is thereby prevented.”

A nest taken from a bank of the Thames, on the 4th of July 1854, was composed of a layer of grasses,
a second layer of the Swan’s breast-feathers, so placed as to curl over the eggs, the

above which was
one of the calyx of a tulip or white water-lily ; although the hole was damp,

appearance forcibly reminding
the platform of grasses and feathers formed a warm and dried receptacle for the eggs, which were of a pearly
white, and six in number. It is supposed that the Sand-Martin only rears one brood in each year, but I

 

think it sometimes goes to nest a second time.
This species, like the other members of the family, is very much infested with parasites, respecting which

 

the following note has been kindly transmitted to me by Signor Henry Giglioli, a gentleman of Pavia, at Ten
present residing in this country for the prosecution of his scientific studies :—‘In at least twenty nests ey
of the Sand-Martin (Cotyle riparia) which I examined at the beginning of July, in Surrey, I found all of
them infested with parasites, some living on the young birds, and others on the materials of which the

nest was formed. These parasites were so numerous that the eggs, as soon as laid, were literally covered

 

with their excrements, giving them a spotted appearance. What strikes me as strange in the matter is, that
I have observed this in no other country. When in Paris last year, T examined at least fifty Sand-Martins’
nests, but no trace of a parasite was discoverable. On examination of the specimens I placed in spirits, I find
they comprise five distinct species :—a Tick (Jvodes ——?), a Flea (Puler ——?), a larva, probably that of the
flea, an insect very like the Ricinus hirundinis of Latreille, and a brachelytrous Coleopteron (Oxytelus rugosus?).”

 

The Sand-Martin is found over all the British Islands, even to the outer Hebrides. The Duke of
Argyll informs me that a considerable colony breeds opposite Balmoral Castle, and that it appears to be
the most numerous species on the Upper Dee. It is also found in summer throughout the temperate parts
of the Old World; for I find it in Schrenck’s ‘ List of the Birds of the Amoor,’ Swinhoe’s ‘ List of the Birds
of China,’ in Blyth’s and Jerdon’s Lists of the Birds of India, and we know that it may be enumerated among
the avifaunz of the northern portion of Persia and Africa. It is also equally abundant in all parts of North

 

America, where, as with us, it is a summer visitant.

Such, then, is a brief history of the little Sand-Martin, the most hardy of the Swallow tribe which visits
our island. Like the Swallow, it comes to us from Africa, sometimes in March; but these early visitors are
few in number ; indeed winged insects, upon which these birds solely live, are at this season very scarce, and
quite insufficient to support a large number. ‘These early birds frequent in preference the sunny sides of cliffs
on our south coast, although sometimes they may be seen inland, flying over rivers and such sheltered places
ssiie likely to supply them with an abundance of midges, gnats, and flies. By the early part of April their
migration is completed.

The sexes are alike in colour, and may be thus described :—
; es pedis back, and upper a light brown ; primaries and tail-feathers very dark brown ; under
surface white, crossed on the upper part of the breast by a band of hair-brown ; beak nearly black ; legs, toes,
and claws purplish brown. a

ns : :

The young, from the time they emerge from the hole in which they have been bred, are very similarly but some-
what darker-coloured than the adults, and each feather is narrowly edged with grey.

The front represents the bird of the natural size, colony in the dist h

; ance, and the Enelish chi rns
intybus. ance, é e English chicory, Cichorium