( 170 ) 

 THE SAND MARTIN. 



RIP ARIA RIP ART A, (l). 



Description. — Length five and one 

 half inches. Bill black. Iris brown. 

 Tarsus dark brown. Legs and feet are 

 naked, with the exception of a few small 

 feathers near the insertion of the hind 

 toe. 



Upper parts, cheeks, and a broad 

 bar on the breast, grayish brown. 

 Throat, fore parts of neck, belly, and 

 under tail coverts white. Wings and 

 tail dark brown, the latter margined 

 whitish, rather short, and forked. 



Young birds have all the feathers of 

 the upper parts margined rufous, the 

 chin and throat fulvous and the breast 

 brown. 



Distribution. — Europe, Africa, and 

 Asia. A summer visitant in the 

 Yangtse Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — This martin breeds 

 in holes and crevices in precipitous 

 cliffs on the sea coast, or in other 

 suitable places, but it prefers to 

 excavate a hole in a perpendicular 

 bank of clay, not too stiff for it's weak 

 bill to mine. They perch against the 

 surface and pick out the hole a few 

 particles at a time, in this way making 

 deep tunnels into the earth. A suit- 

 able location will often attract a largo 

 number of Sand Martins, and the 

 surface will be riddled with their holes. 

 The hole slants upward, and is from 

 three to four feet in depth, and two or 

 three inches in diameter. At its 

 extremity the gallery is widened to 

 form a chamber about six inches in 

 diameter, where a bed is made of dry 

 grass, with a few feathers for a lining. 



