MARTIN 151 



built oa to the slanting rafters of the roof, close up in 

 the angle near the tiles, and it was tapered downwards 

 to a point, without any support beyond being attached 

 to the narrow rafters above. There were six nests in 

 the angles of the roof of a woodshed close by, all within 

 a few feet of each other. 



Genus CHELIDON, F. Boie. 



MAETIN. 



Clielidon itrhica (Linnffius). S.N., i., p. 344 (1766). 

 Martin, Boys, 179-2 ; House-Martin. 



The Martin, like the Swallow, is plentiful throughout 

 the county during the summer, and few towns, villages, 

 isolated farmhouses, or cottages, are without their 

 Martins, the only reason for the absence of the Martin 

 from a house being that the eaves are not suited for the 

 construction of the nest. It appears evident that the 

 nest of the Martin must be so constructed that the eaves 

 should form the cover for the top of the nest ; the sides 

 of the nest are closed up, and attached to the over-hang- 

 ing roof, thus leaving only a small aperture in the front 

 top edge of the nest for the birds to pass in and out. In 

 one instance the birds commenced building a nest on 

 the front of a cottage and then found that the under- 

 part of the eaves was open to the inside of the roof; 

 they abandoned the position when half through their 

 work. 



In another instance the Martins selected the front of 

 a house, where the eaves had been painted a stone colour ; 

 this paint extended on to the bricks below the over- 



