240 JUNGLE FOLK 



feverish haste, as though they were under contract 

 to finish them by a given date. Not so the sand- 

 martins. With them, the spells of work at the nest 

 would seem to be mere interludes between their 

 gambols in the air. Each bird appears to visit its nest 

 ever}^ few seconds, but generally it contents itself with 

 hovering in front of the hole for a fraction of a minute 

 and then dashes away. Frequently one sees a martin 

 perch at the aperture for a few seconds without doing 

 any work, and then fly off again. For every visit made 

 with the object of doing work, ten or twelve seem to be 

 made for the mere fun of the thing. Sand-martins 

 appear to derive the greatest pleasure from the con- 

 templation of the growing nurser}^ If the cliff be 

 examined carefull3% its soft sandy surface will be found 

 to be scored in many places by marks made by the 

 sharp httle claws of the martins as the birds alight. 



A colony of nesting martins presents a very animated 

 appearance. The main body dash through the air to 

 and fro in front of the cliff, uttering their feeble twitter- 

 ing, but a few^ are always at the nest holes, either resting 

 or working. These latter are constant^ reinforced 

 from those on the wing, and vice versa, so that there 

 are two streams of birds, one flying to the cliff and the 

 other leaving it. Suddenly the whole flock, including 

 both the resting and the flying birds, will, as if affected 

 simultaneously by a common influence, fly off en masse 

 and disappear from sight. But they are never absent 

 for long. At the end of two or three minutes all are 

 back again. 



The birds utter unceasinglj', when on the wing, a 



