568 Natural History in the English Counties. 



. Sand Martin (ifirundo riparia). The localities which the 

 sand martin prefers are not commonly met with ; and although 

 it does occasionally settle near large towns, yet it seems to be 

 but a transient visiter, preferring solitary banks bordering 

 upon a lake or river, where it can bring up its young undis- 

 turbed by the presence of man. A few years ago, a colony 

 of these birds established themselves on the south side of 

 Tynemouth banks, and seemed to increase rapidly, their nests 

 being wholly out of reach ; but, unfortunately, some idle 

 fishermen, wishing to prove their skill upon the poor martins, 

 shot many of them : and from that time they have never 

 returned, but have probably emigrated to some neighbouring 

 station, of which there are two within a few miles. I might, 

 perhaps, with propriety, in this place, express my indignation 

 a^ the merciless and too general destruction of the poor swal- 

 lows ; but the celebrated author of the Journal of a Naturalist 

 has already (p. 221. of that work) done it in so feeling a man- 

 ner as to leave nothing fi-esh for me to say. [See an eloquent 

 and amiable essay " On the wanton Destruction of Swallows," 

 in our Vol. III. p. 35., by Philochelidon.] 



The Wryneck ( Yunx Torquilla) {Jig. 102.) is comparatively 

 rare here. I have seldom seen it; and never myself found its 

 nest, although I have heard that the latter is occasionally met 

 with. It arrives about the latter end of April. 



[It is but just to remark, that, beautiful as is the accom- 

 panying woodcut, it, from some nameless fault or other, does 



not portray the wryneck with 

 characteristic faithfulness. I 

 incline to say the neck and 

 tail are too long, and these 

 proportions represent the 

 bird larger than it really is. 

 The same faults, I think, 

 appertain to the cut in Be- 

 wick's British Birds, from 

 which, if I recollect rightly, 

 the present cut has been 

 copied. The beautiful markings are w^ell shown ; but Mon- 

 tagu says, " the pen or the pencil can only give a very in- 

 adequate idea of the elegant markings of this bird. Its name 

 of wryneck seems to have been given it from the singular 

 manner of turning its head over its shoulders alternately, at 

 which time the black list on the back of the neck gives it a 

 twisted appearance : it also erects all the feathers on the crown 

 of the head in a terrific manner." Mention is made of the 

 wryneck in this Magazine, Vol. IV. p. 450. — J. Z).] 



The Whincliat (Sylvia Rubetra). I mention this among 



