38 Thk Sand-Martin 



general pet : his cage was kept in a small spare room, tlie wire door being usualljr 

 left open, so that he conld go out and in at pleasure ; every day, as soon as I 

 returned from town, I used to run up and call him, and he would at once fly to 

 me and nestle down in my hand. Towards the end of his life he appeared to feel 

 the cold, and usually retired earlj^ to his cocoa-nut nest, but he generall}- tumbled 

 out as soon as he heard ni}- footstep. Two days before he died his cage door was 

 shut and he had got into his snuggery, but I called out, " Well little chap, how 

 are you 'i " In a moment his head was popped out and he sprang to the cage- 

 door : I opened it, stepped back to the end of the room and called him, and he 

 immediately flew across as usual. 



I don't think I was ever more fond of any pet than I was of that House- 

 Martin, and I felt his death acutel}' : but, nevertheless, I do not recommend the 

 species as a cage-bird ; its wings are so long, and its legs so short, that the 

 primaries constantly get dragged through the dirt and need frequently cleansing, 

 which tends to give the birds cold. A long and well-warmed corridor would make 

 a suitable aviary for them.* 



1-amily—IIIR UNDL\ ID.E. 



The Sand-Martin. 



Col ill ri/^ariii, LiN'N. 



OF the distribution of this bird outside the British Islands, Howard Saunders 

 writes : — " In the Faroes and Iceland the Sand-Martin has not yet been 

 obtained, but on the Continent it is generally distributed from 70° N. 

 lat. to the Mediterranean in summer ; while it also breeds sparingly in the 

 northern districts of Africa, and abundantly in Egypt and Palestine. Eastward, 



•• I published this account in slij^htly dilTeient words in the "Zoologist" for iSyi, pp. 397, 39S. 



