538 MARTIN 



of labour rarely excelled in its Class, horizontal galleries in a natural 

 or artificial escarpment. When beginning its excavation, it clings 

 to the face of the bank, and with its bill loosens the earth, working 

 from the centre outwards, assuming all sorts of positions — as often 

 as not hanging head downwards. The form of the boring and its 

 length depend much on the nature of the soil ; but the tunnel may- 

 extend to 4, 6, or even 9 feet. The gallery seems intended to be 

 straight, but inequalities of the ground, and especially the meeting 

 with stones, often cause it to take a sinuous coui'se. At the end is 

 formed a convenient chamber lined with a few grass stalks and 

 feathers, the latter always beautifully arranged, and upon them the 

 eggs are laid. The Sand-Martin has several broods in the year, 

 and is much more regular than other Eirundinidse in its departure 

 for the south. The kind of soil needed for its nesting-habits makes 

 it a somewhat local bird ; but no species of the Order Passeres has 

 a geographical range that can compare with this. In Europe it is 

 found nearly to the North Cape, and thence to the Sea of Okhotsk. 

 In winter it visits many parts of India, and South Africa to the 

 Transvaal territory. In America its range is even still further, 

 extending (due regard being of course had to the season of the 

 3^ear) from Melville Island to Cai9ara in Brazil, and from New- 

 foundland to Alaska. 



The Purple Martin of America,^ Frogne subis or purpurea, 

 requires some remarks as being such a favourite bird in Canada 

 and in the United States. Naturally breeding in hollow trees, it 

 readily adapts itself to the nest-boxes which are A^ery commonly 

 set up for its accommodation ; but its numbers are in some years 

 and places subject to diminution in a manner which has not yet 

 been satisfactorily explained. The limits of its range in winter are 

 not determined, chiefly owing to the differences of opinion as to 

 the validity of certain supposed kindred species found in South 

 America ; but according to some authorities it reaches the border 

 of Patagonia, while in summer it is known to inhabit lands within 

 the Arctic Circle. The male is almost wholly of a glossy steel- 

 blue, while the female is much duller in colour above, and beneath 

 of a brownish-grey. 



Birds that may be called Martins^ occiir almost all over the world 

 except in New Zealand, which is not regiilarly inhabited by any 

 member of the Family. The ordinary Martin of Australia is the 

 Hirundo or Hylochelidon nigricans of most ornithologists, and another 

 and more beautiful form is the Ariel or Fairy-Martin of the same 

 country, Hirundo or Lagenoplastes ariel. This last builds of mud a 



^ In 1840 an example is said to have been killed at Kingstown in Ireland, 

 the skin of which is in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. 



- The Martin of the French colonists (in the Old World) is an Acridotlieres 

 (Grackle). 



