486 PERCHING BIRDS 



pale drab ground. The whole jilumage presents a pearly lustre of 

 great delicacy. 



It is a matter for regret that, owing to wholesale captures on the 

 Continent, the number of swallows visiting the British Isles has of 

 late years shown a ver)- considerable diminution. Swallows have 

 been known on several occasions to perch on fishing-rods when in 

 use, and the)- have also at times been hooked by fly-fishers. Stranger 

 still is the fact that these birds have on more than one occasion been 

 hit by cricket or golf balls ; two instances, one in 1849 or 1850 and 

 the other in 1894, of the former nature, and one, in 1891, of the latter 

 being on record. 



A specimen of the red-rumped swallow {Hirundo rufula), a species 

 visiting the south of h'rance and common in North Africa, was picked 

 up on Fair Island in June 1906. 



Sand Martin '^^^^ sand-martin {Clivicoln riparia of some ornitho- 



(Cotile riparia). logical works, and Riparia riparia of others) typifies 



a cosmopolitan group occupying to some extent an 



intermediate position be- 

 tween the swallows on the 

 one hand and the martins 

 on the other. In all sand- 

 martins except the present 

 species (in which there is 

 a small tuft of feathers on 

 the hind surface of the 

 leg) the shank of the leg 

 and the toes are bare ; 

 the tail is but slightly 

 forked, without white 

 patches at the tips of its 

 feathers ; and the colour 

 of the plumage of the 

 upper-parts is dull slat)- 

 brown. 



In addition to the 

 features mentioned above, 

 most of which arc com- 

 mon to the whole group 

 of sand-martins, the 

 present species is dis- 



\MiM \icriN I i,viN(;. 



