93 

 SWALLOWS. 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 

 ( Concluded from page 71..) 



The next species which visits us during the summer months, is the 

 Sand or Bank Martin, (Hirundo riparia.) This, the smallest of the whole 

 genus, is mouse-colour above and white beneath. He makes his nest usually 

 on the banks, or rather in the banks of streams, which in autumn are 

 perfectly swarming with these birds, as every angler can testify. This 

 little creature, small and weak as he is, bores a hole into the sand, of 

 two feet or more in depth, and big enough to admit his own body twice 

 over. At the extremity a hollow is formed to receive the nest, which is 

 made of hay or dry grass and feathers, and in which six white eggs are 

 usually laid. The passage to the nest is seldom in a direct line, but 

 whether this arises from some difficulty that has compelled the little borer 

 to turn aside, or for safety, is not very clear. In hot weather this retreat 

 is necessarily very warm and close, and accordingly forms a suitable situation 

 for insect transformation, and accordingly is infested with a small animal 

 peculiar to these birds, which Mr. Curtis has called Pulex bifascialus. 



That they breed twice there is no doubt, and it may be a question 

 whether some do not even produce a third brood; but this would l'equire 

 a very nice observation to determine; the immense number produced only 

 raises such a probability, from the period of their stay, which is, I should 

 say, extended to the utmost limits of our summer visitants. 



These little birds have a curious flitting kind of flight, and have been 

 named by Spaniards Papilion di montagua, or Hill Butterfly. Their only 

 cry is a harsh chirp. They come with the Martins about the end of April, 

 but do not retire before the middle of October; and from their residence 

 in wet, and therefore colder situations, are probably more hardy. 



This species of Swallow is by far the least sociable, and seldom takes 

 up its abode near the habitations of man; there are of course exceptions, 

 but "exeeptio probat regulam" and I may therefore be pardoned for men- 

 tioning one. On that part of the great western road which is between Egham 

 and Shrub's Hill, about nineteen miles from London, there is, as every 

 one who has travelled that way knows, a very steep hill, called by old 

 coachmen, "Virginia Water hill;" so called from being opposite that orna- 

 mental lake in the south-east corner of Windsor great park; formed by 

 George the Third, and a great delight to his successor during the latter 

 years of his reign. In the sides of this hill, abutting on the road, an extensive 

 colony of these birds had existed for many years; but as the banks from 

 being too steep were continually falling in, and slipping from time to time, it 

 was found necessary to shelve them off, to prevent the recurrence of the 



vol. vii. o 



