154 catalogue of birds. 



The House- Martin. 

 Order, Passercs. Family, Hirundinid<2. 

 The House- Martin arrives on the south-east 

 coast very shortly after the Swallow, and is well 

 distributed over the British Islands, with the excep- 

 tion of Ireland and the north of Scotland where it is 

 not so abundant. The House-Martin associates 

 very much with the Swallow, and when you see 

 them whirling and circling about in the sky together 

 it is often rather difficult to detect which is which. 

 There are, however, one or two distinguishing 

 marks, the House-Martin is the smaller of the two, the 

 tail is less forked, and, easiest mark of all is the patch 

 of white colour on the lower portion of the back. 

 When you see this last you may be certain about 

 the bird. The aerial evolutions of the House- 

 Martin are not so sweeping in their character as 

 those of the Swallow. House-Martins seem to work 

 in smaller circles, and in a more confined area, so to 

 speak ; but, nevertheless, it is a pretty sight to 

 watch the graceful way in which they pursue the 

 insects in the air on a calm still morning or evening, 

 when there are plenty of them about. These birds 

 have a very clever method of steering themselves in 

 the air, principally with their wings, which they 

 open and close as may be expedient. This species 

 is sociable, like the Swallow, not afraid of man, pre- 

 ferring to be near him as evidenced by the confiding 

 manner in which he plasters his mud composed 

 structure of quarter saucer-shaped-looking nest 

 against the walls of his house — in a manner very 



