SAND-MARTIN. 357 



opening is really circular. The intention seems to be that 

 the gallery should be straight, but inequalities of the 

 ground, and the occurrence of stones, frequently cause it to 

 take a sinuous course, and the little miner often meets 

 with a stone too big to be removed or evaded, in which case 

 the hole is abandoned, and a fresh attempt made. Both the 

 partners in the undertaking seem to work at it by turn, and 

 operations are seldom carried on except in the early morn- 

 ing. When the gallery is bored far enough, and what deter- 

 mines this is not always apparent, the end is slightly enlarged 

 to form a chamber, and hither are brought materials for the 

 nest, consisting chiefly of dry grass-stalks, or near the coast 

 (as Wolley found at Bridlington) of seaweed, to serve as a 

 loose foundation, on which is laid a bed of feathers, which 

 seem to be collected from some neighbouring water, and 

 these last are invariably disposed with much neatness, so that 

 a Sand-Martin's nest, carefully removed from its grave is a 

 beautiful object.* 



The eggs are commonly from four to six in number, 

 though late in the season not more than two or three are 

 laid, and are translucent white, measuring from '78 to *6 by 

 from '52 to *45 in. Since the species is pretty numerous 

 and places fitted for its subterranean nurseries are some- 

 times far apart, it throngs to those that are favourable, and 

 in such cases the nests are often made close together, so 

 that the face of the bank is riddled with its holes, in a way 

 that has suggested to many the comparison with a honey- 

 comb. Depth of soil has nothing to do with the occupation 

 of a locality by the Sand-Martin. It will drive its galleries 

 into the middle of a bluff a hundred feet high, or be content 

 with the thin layer of mould, hardly exceeding eighteen 

 inches, that in some spots caps the side of a chalk-cutting. 

 Nor is height more regarded, for the nests may be found at 

 almost any distance from either top or bottom of a suitable 

 escarpment, and a shallow sand-pit, that will hardly hide a 



* Those who have dug out the nests of this bird need not be reminded of the 

 inconvenience which the operation is likely to produce from the swarms of fleas, 

 with which, towards the end of summer, they are infested. 



