HOUSE-MAKTIN. 333 



neighbours in their aerial evolutions as long as day- 

 light lasted. As a rule, I think, the middle of the 

 day is devoted to feasting and pleasure-flights, the moist 

 atmosphere, both morning and evening, being most 

 favourable to the prosecution of their work, which 

 hardens with the sun in the middle of the day. 

 Under the projecting roofs of sheds and other buildings 

 and the corners of windows are the sites usually 

 selected for their nests, but I have known them built 

 under the arches of a bridge, and in one instance 

 also, at Hunstanton, on the face of the chalk-cliff 

 fronting the sea ; a strange situation in these days, for 

 this species, but one which it occasionally selects in 

 other parts of England, and which no doubt was natural 

 to it before men began to erect houses. I have also 

 known them to build for years under the thatch of a 

 cottage, one story high, where a boy could reach every 

 nest with a short stick, yet probably from the people 

 encouraging and protecting them they seem quite un- 

 suspicious of danger. 



The unceasmg exertions of the old birds to supply 

 the wants of their nestlings when once hatched, is one 

 of the most interesting sights in nature, as each in 

 turn arrives with food, then, squeezing its way out 

 again thro^^gh the little aperture, launches forth once 

 more. Thus, hour after hour, the "labour of love" 

 goes on till darkness only stays their busy wings, and 

 old and young nestle together in their little home. 

 Macgillivray gives the result of one whole day's observa- 

 tions upon the number of times that the house-martin 

 really feeds its offspring; and by this statement it is 

 shown that in the middle of July, between four a.m. 

 and eight p.m., a pair of these birds returned with 

 food to their nest no less than three hundred and 

 seven times, making at certain parts of the day 

 from twenty to twenty-eight visits per hour. As 



