BIRDS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 661 



six or seven most beautiful white and somewhat transparent 

 eggs in the upper end of a rafs hole, which the bird fre- 

 quents from year to year. Frequents also pools and fish- 

 ponds. 



97. Chiinnei/ Sicalloic. Hirundo rustica. A summer visitor, 

 appearing about the middle of April, a few days after the 

 Bauk Martin. It is first seen about ruins, particularly if 

 there is much water around them. Abundant and widely 

 dispersed. Nestles in a few weeks after its arrival, in 

 barns, out-houses, chimneys, and other places ; making its 



- nest of mud intermixed with a few straws, and lining it 

 with fibres and feathers. The young come abroad in June. 

 These birds generally muster for migration towards the 

 middle of September. On the evening of 10th September 

 183.9, just as our chimes were going six, myriads upon my- 

 riads of swallows assembled in the air over the south-eastern 

 part of the town, until the whole face of the heavens became 

 literally peopled with them. They made various circuits, 

 gliding backwards and forwards, and then dropping in vast 

 multitudes, settled in the willow bed beneath the castle, 

 making the holt alive with their twitterings. 



98. Martin. Hirundo urhica. A summer visitor, arriving a 

 few days after the Chimney Swallow, and at first haunting 

 rivers in the vicinity of ruins. Abundant, and generally 

 distributed. Departs about the end of September. 



99. Bank Martin. Hirundo riparia. A summer visitor, ar- 

 riving early in April. Abundant, haunting most of our 

 gravel-pits, and sand-holes, where it nestles in holes which 

 it excavates for itself. Departs immediately after the au- 

 tumnal equinox. 



100. Swift. Ct/pselus murarius. A summer visitor, arriving in 

 the first week of May, and departing early in September. 

 Common, and generally distributed. 



101. Alpine Swift. C'/pselus alpimis. On the 23d September 

 1839, at half -past five in the evening, I saw, to my astonish- 

 ment, a bird of this species, gliding along, in a southerly 

 direction, at the height of fifteen or twenty yards. From 



