436 BULLETIN 179, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



From that time until 5 o'clock, they fed them four times ; from 5 to 6 o'clock 

 eleven times ; from 6 to 7 o'clock twenty-four times ; from 7 to 8 o'clock fifteen 

 times ; from 8 to 9 o'clock twenty-three times ; from 9 to 10 o'clock twenty -five 

 times ; from 10 to 11 o'clock twenty times ; from 11 to 12 o'clock twenty-six 

 times ; from 12 to 1 o'clock twenty-six times ; from 1 to 2 o'clock twenty-seven 

 times ; from 2 to 3 o'clock twenty-eight times ; from 3 to 4 o'clock twenty times ; 

 from 4 to 5 o'clock twenty times ; from 5 to 6 o'clock twenty-seven times ; 

 from 6 to 7 o'clock ten times ; and from 7 to 8 o'clock only once, making in all 

 307 times. At 10 minutes after 8 o'clock, having ceased from their labours, 

 they went into their dormitory. Tliey brought to their nestlings at each time, 

 sometimes two, at other times three, four, five, and even more flies of different 

 sizes. 



Referring to the departure from the nest, Macgillivray (1840) 

 quotes Mr. Hepburn as follows: 



The following morning, about eight o'clock, immediately after my return 

 from the fields, I observed the old birds dashing up to the window, then de- 

 scribing short curves in the air, and repeating a note, the meaning of which 

 could not be misunderstood. I knew from experience the young were about 

 to take their flight. One of them balanced itself in the entrance, looked timidly 

 into the void, considered the risk for some time, and then allowed its fellow 

 to take its place. During all this time the parents kept diving about, within 

 a few feet of the nest, and often fluttering within a few inches of the entrance, 

 and endeavouring by many winning gestures to induce their charge to follow 

 them. The remaining bird also, after sitting for some time, distrustful of its 

 powers, retired, and tlie first one once more appeared. Opening and shutting 

 his wings, and often half preparing to retire, he at length summoned up all 

 his resolution, sprung from his perch, and with his self-taught pinions winnowed 

 the air. He and the parents, who were in ecstasies, returned to the window, 

 and, being joined by the other young bird, they all day long sported chiefly 

 about the tree tops, till seven in the evening, when they re-entered the nest. 

 The following day they were again sporting about, and the young were reiieatedly 

 fed by their parents. * * * 



The first brood, which is generally abroad by the middle of June, live apart. 

 The second brood is fiedged by the end of August. They and their parents join 

 the first brood and their companions, at Linton Distillery, when some hundreds 

 of the species ai-e to be seen. The remainder of their stay is spent in short 

 aerial excursions, in sunning themselves on house-tops, in feasting and song; 

 until, about the third week of September, when they bid farewell to the scenes 

 of their youth, which many of them are never again to behold, and away they 

 speed in a body far towards the noontide sun. 



Several observers have noted that four, or more, birds often assist 

 in the feeding of a single brood of young; in some cases some of these 

 birds may have been the young of a previous brood. 



Plumages. — The nestling martin is scantily clothed in white down, 

 according to Witherby's Handbook (1920) . A full description of each 

 plumage may be found in this excellent work, from which it appears 

 that the young martin in juvenal plumage is much like the adult, 

 but browner and duller in color. The sexes are practically alike in 

 all plumages. The juvenal body plumage begins to molt in August, 



