OF SELBORNE. 209 
banks of the lakes of Wolmer Forest, several col- 
onies of these birds, and yet they are never seen 
in the village, nor do they at all frequent the cot- 
tages that are scattered about in that wild district. 
The only instance I ever remember where this 
species haunts any building, is at the town of 
Bishop’s Waltham, in this county, where many 
sand-martins nestle in the scaffold-holes of the 
back wall of William of Wykeham’s stables; but 
then this wall stands in a very sequestered and re- 
tired enclosure, and faces upon a large and beau. ° 
tiful lake. And, indeed, this species seems so to 
delight in large waters, that no instance occurs of 
their abounding but near vast pools or rivers ; and, 
in particular, it has been remarked that they swarm 
in the banks of the Thames, in some places below 
London Bridge. 
It is curious to observe with what different de- 
grees of architectonic skill Providence has en- 
dowed birds of the same genus, and so nearly cor- 
respondent in their general mode of life ; for, while 
the swallow and the house-martin discover the 
greatest address in raising and securely fixing 
crusts or shells of loam as cunabula for their young, 
the bank-martin terebrates a round and regular 
hole in the sand or earth, which is serpentine, hori- 
zontal, and about two feet deep. At the inner end 
of this burrow does this bird deposite, in a good 
degree of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine 
grasses and feathers, usually goose feathers, very 
inartificially laid together. 
Perseverance will accomplish anything, though 
at first one would be disinclined to believe that 
this weak bird, with her soft and tender bill and 
$2 
