HOUSE-MARTIN. 329 



Yet, in spite of all such atmosplierical drawbacks, the 

 elms and beech trees are budding into leaf, and the 

 horse-chestnut and sycamore are fully clothed; the 

 hedgerows, changing from brown to green, are hiding 

 with their foliage the early nests of the robin and 

 the hedge-sparrow, and the merry song of the chafihich 

 is heard again with the chiffchaff and the willow 

 wren ; when the brief sight of a glancing form, 

 twisting and turning in the bright sunlight, gives a 

 thrill of pleasure to the true naturalist, who dofis 

 his cap to the "first swallow" or the foremost flight 

 of the coming martins. Varying a little with the 

 mildness or backwardness of the season, the house- 

 martin arrives generally rather later than the swallow, 

 and is seen in our country walks, though not in our 

 streets, by about the second week in April. The 20th 

 of that month is, I think, an average date, and from 

 that time their numbers rapidly increase, and, for 

 a time at least, they seem to give themselves up wholly 

 to the pleasures of existence, spending their entire 

 days upon our rivers and streams, feasting and flitting 

 with untiring energy, and delaying for a while their 

 parental cares. Should the weather at this time 

 become unusually severe, they are gone again for a 

 brief space, having sought, no doubt, with their swift 

 wings, the warmer climate of our southern counties, 

 but a genial change soon brings them back, and by 

 the first week in May they are around our dwellings 

 carefully inspecting their old nests and selecting sites 

 for new. Now is the time to watch their pretty 

 actions as again and again they hover up to the eaves, 

 or drift away upon outspread wings, the white patch 

 on the tail coverts contrasting forcibly with their dark 

 blue backs. Not easily dislodged from any favourite 

 spot, they are equally hard to please in the choice of a 

 new one, often coming and going for days together, 

 2tj 



