328 BIRD WATCHING 



scratching ; and, in doing this, it leaves a track on the 

 sand or gravel which is quite perceptible through the 

 glasses, and which I believe is made by the strongly 

 bent-in tail as well as by the feet. It thus clings 

 with wings, tail, and body, whilst scratching, far more 

 than clinging, with its claws." 



"It may be asked what part in all this does the 

 beak play? In those birds which I have been 

 just now watching at some twenty paces through 

 glasses that brought them just under my eyes, and 

 in bright sunlight, it seemed to play none at all. 

 It might have been expected that, in thus com- 

 mencing, the martins would cling with the feet 

 whilst working with the bill. These have certainly 

 not done so, nor have they ever been head down- 

 wards, either now or before. I have not yet seen 

 a sand-martin in this position, or even approaching 

 to it. The tail, which is made to play so great a 

 part, would here lose much of its efficacy, but I do 

 not at all think that they never do hang like this. 

 Within certain wide limits, birds, in my experience, 

 act, not uniformly, but with great variety. Probably, 

 with longer watching, I should have seen this attitude, 

 and, also, the bill used as well as the feet. Whether 

 it is used or not in the first commencement of an 

 excavation, it certainly is — in the way I have de- 

 scribed — during the later stages." 



" I notice again this morning a particular hole, only 

 about an inch deep, and at the bottom of which there 

 is a large stone, naturally imbedded in the sand. No 

 birds are now working at this, but, on the last occa- 

 sion, one was attacked several times in succession, 

 whilst doing so, by another. This seems as though 



