OF SELBORNE. 211 
fleas (pulex irritans) swarming at the mouths of 
these holes, like bees on the stools of their hives. 
The following circumstance should by no means 
be omitted: that these birds do not make use of 
their caverns by way of hybernacula, as might be 
expected, since banks so perforated have been dug 
out with care in the winter, when nothing was 
found but empty nests. 
The sand-martin arrives much about the same 
time with the swallow, and lays, as she does, from 
four to six white eggs. But, as this species is 
cryplogame, carrying on the business of nidification, 
incubation, and the support of its young in the 
dark, it would not be so easy to ascertain the time 
of hatching were it not for the coming forth of the 
broods, which appear much about the time, or, 
rather, somewhat earlier than those of the swallow. 
The nestlings are supported in common, like those 
of their congeners, with gnats and other small in- 
sects, and sometimes they are fed with Jlibellule 
(dragon-flies) almost as long as themselves. In 
the last week in June we have seen a row of these 
sitting on a rail, near a great pool, as perchers, 
and so young and helpless as easily to be taken by 
hand; but whether the dams ever feed them on the 
wing, as swallows and house-martins do, we have 
never yet been able to determine; nor do we know 
whether they pursue and attack birds of prey. 
When they happen to nestle near hedges and 
enclosures, they are dispossessed of their holes by 
the house-sparrow, which is, on the same account, 
a fell adversary to house-martins. 
These hirwndines are no songsters, but rather 
mute, making only a little harsh noise when a per. 
