166 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST, 
summer of 1864. The nest was built of the usual 
materials, but was placed on the top batten of a door in 
the wall of the gardens at Rufford Abbey, the batten 
being very broad, and extending to within a few inches 
of the top of the door. The nest was not only attached 
firmly to the door, but also to the lintel, and when first 
discovered had to be cut away from the latter in order 
that the door might be opened. This, however, did not 
divert the intentions of the parent birds: the eggs were 
duly laid and duly hatched; and when I saw it the 
young birds were nearly ready for flight. The door was 
in constant use, being opened thirty or forty times a 
day ; but this frequent and sometimes sudden motion 
seemed in no way to alarm either old or young, the 
latter suffering me to touch them. 
The martin, like the swallow, is fond of frequenting 
the ruts and gutters of roads for the purpose of picking 
up the mud with which it builds, which, it is very 
evident, is rendered more retentive by being tempered 
with the saliva of the bird. Insome districts, where the 
soil is a strong clay, as it is a few miles from Ollerton, 
little tempering may be needed ; but in our own neigh- 
bourhood, where the soil is very ight and sandy, more 
preparation of the kind would, we should think, be 
necessary ; yet with materials so different the nests they 
build with us are not less strong than those they erect 
in the clay villages. 
A house opposite my own has been resorted to year 
by year as long as I can remember. There, under the 
eaves of the tiled roof, five or six nests were always 
placed. Sometimes, on account of the annoyance occa- 
sioned by their excrement, the occupant of the house 
caused those to be broken down which were directly 
