SAND-MARTIN 



487 



tinguished from other British HirundinidcX- by its small size, the 

 total length not exceeding 5 inches. The general colour is ashy 

 brown, darker on the crown of the head but lighter on the lower part 

 of the neck, the brown extending in the form of a band across the 

 chest ; the under-parts are wholly white. In the female the dark 

 chest-band is somewhat narrower ; and in young birds the feathers 

 of the dark area have dull white tips, while those of the under-parts 

 are tinged with buff. 



The sand-martin ranges over practically the whole of the northern 

 hemisphere, breeding in Europe from the extreme north of Scandinavia, 

 and from about latitude 50° in the Ural 

 range southwards to the Mediterranean, but 

 in Asia not usually south of the Himalaya. 

 To India and Tenasserim, as well as to 

 Africa and Central and South America, it is 

 mainly a summer-visitor, but since specimens 

 have been taken in the first-named country 

 in May and June, it probably sometimes 

 stays there to breed. In the British Isles, 

 where it arrives somewhat later and departs 

 rather earlier than the swallow, it breeds 

 everywhere in localities suited to its habits, 

 the proximity of water being essential. 

 Occasionally sand-martins stay much longer 

 than the normal season, instances of their 

 breeding as late as September in 1904 and 

 October in 1901 being recorded, while in 

 the former year specimens were seen at 

 Eastbourne and Scarborough in December. 



Sand-martins associate in large companies, and breed in holes 

 tunnelled in sandy banks near water; the breeding- tunnel being 

 frequently as much as a yard in length, and terminating in a 

 chamber, carpeted with a little grass and straw, upon which are a 

 few feathers for the reception of the clutch of four or five pure white 

 eggs. Failing banks, these birds have been known to nest in holes 

 in walls, or even in heaps of sawdust. In autumn, sand-martins 

 collect in huge flocks, after the fashion of the other members of the 

 group, previous to taking their departure for the south. 



SAND-.MAKTIN. 



