1 68 SAND-MARTIN. 



Newfoundland. In winter it visits Mexico, Central America and 

 the valley of the Amazon ; and — in the Old World — China, the 

 Indian region, and South-eastern Africa down to Zanzibar. Occasion- 

 ally it wanders to the Canary Islands. 



Early in May it makes a nest, generally in banks — whether 

 natural, such as earth-cliffs and chalk-holes by the sides of rivers 

 and lakes, or artificial, such as railway-cuttings, sandpits and gravel 

 quarries— or even in huge heaps of sawdust. In such situations 

 galleries slanting slightly upwards are bored, and, in a somewhat 

 wider chamber at the end, the nest is formed of a little dry grass with 

 an abundance of feathers. The eggs, usually 4-6 in number, are 

 pure white : average measurements 7 by '48 in. In some parts of 

 Norway the Sand-Martin burrows into the turf-covered roofs of 

 the peasants' houses ; while in this country holes in old walls are not 

 unfrequently utilised, and Mr. R. Warren found nests in the crevices 

 of a ruin on I-ough Cullen. Small colonies are often ousted by the 

 overbearing House-Sparrows, but where large numbers congregate, 

 they are able to defy intruders. Two broods are generally produced in 

 the season, and after leaving their flea-haunted nest, the young betake 

 themselves to the vicinity of water, where they feed all day upon the 

 gnats and other insects found in such localities, and roost at night 

 in large numbers in the reed-beds and plantations. The male has a 

 low twittering song, but the alarm-note is rather harsh. 



The adult male is hair-brown above, slightly darker on the crown 

 and lighter on the rump ; wings and tail blackish-brown ; under 

 parts white, except a mottled brown pectoral band ; bill black ; legs 

 dark brown, with a tuft of pale buff-coloured feathers above the hind 

 toe. Length 4-8 ; wing 4 in. The female has a rather narrower 

 band across the throat. The young bird, shown in the upper figure 

 of the woodcut, has the feathers of the upper parts tipped with dull 

 white, and the under parts tinged with buff 



In the rocky gorges and mountainous regions of Central and 

 Southern Europe many of my readers may have noticed a rather 

 larger bird, resembling our Sand-Martin in the colour of its upper 

 parts, but displaying white spots on its outspread tail. This is the 

 Crag-Martin, Cot'ile rupeslris, a bird which has not yet been found 

 in the British Islands, but which may possibly stray to our shores, as 

 it breeds regularly no further off than Switzerland and the Pyrenees. 

 This species has not the small tuft of feathers on the metatarsus, 

 and its eggs are spotted, like those of the Swallow. 



