SAND-MARTIN. 185 
fused. Its nearest ally is probably H. cincta, from Africa, a larger bird 
with white instead of brown axillaries, and a white patch on each side of 
the forehead. 
The habits of the Sand-Martin differ in several points from those of 
the House-Martin and the Swallow. The comparative rarity of suitable 
breeding-places makes it a much more local bird, and causes it also to 
appear much more gregarious; and the fact that it rarely breeds except in 
perpendicular earth-cliffs, which are seldom found except on the banks of 
rivers or lakes, makes it appear to be more partial to the neighbourhood 
of water than is really the case, though in this country the increasing 
number of railway-cuttings provides the Sand-Martins with other breeding- 
places, of which they are ready enough to avail themselves. In some 
localities the Sand-Martin is said to be the first Swallow to arrive in this 
country ; but in most places where migratory birds are observed on passage 
it is recorded as being somewhat later than our other two species. The 
arrival of all the Swallows in spring is somewhat irregular: they seem to 
cross the water in small parties, and to fly very low, frequently even fol- 
lowing the sweep of the waves. Krtiper gives the end of March as the 
earliest appearance of the Sand-Martin in Asia Minor ; but Irby: frequently 
saw them at Gibraltar before the end of February. Wright says that they 
pass through Malta a little later than the other Swallows; and Naumann 
asserts that they seldom arrive at their breeding-quarters in Germany until 
early in May. In England they are frequently seen early in April. There 
seems to be little doubt that the Sand-Martins are the earliest Swallows 
to leave this country in autumn. During August their numbers rapidly 
decrease, and by the middle of September very few remain, though I have 
seen them on the Sussex coast as late as the middle of October. 
Immediately after its arrival in this country the Sand-Martin repairs to 
its breeding-place, and the old holes are used as sleeping-places at night. 
These holes are made in perpendicular earth-cliffs on the banks of rivers or 
lakes, on the sea-shore, or in railway-cuttings, sand-pits, gravel-quarries, 
or wherever a steep enough bank of suitable soil can be found. Sandy 
ground is usually chosen because it is easiest to excavate; but it must not 
be too loose, otherwise the sand would fall and bury the bird or her eggs, 
Sometimes very curious sites are chosen. I have seen Sand-Martins flying 
in and out of their holes which they had excavated in some enormous heaps 
of half-rotten sawdust lying near the Brandon station of the Great Eastern 
Railway. In Norway, between Lillehammer and the Dovrefjeld, many of 
the peasants’ houses are roofed with turf, and some of these thick roofs of 
dry sandy peat are burrowed with nests of the Sand-Martin. 
In all cases the bird excavates its own abode, and generally returns to 
it several years in succession; but I noticed on the banks of the Danube 
many deserted colonies close to others where the birds were swarming. 
