58 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE, 



GENUS COTILE. 



SAND-MARTIN. 



CoTiLE RiPARiA (Limifeiis). 



A summer visitor, and one which is quite as common as 

 the Swallow and the Martin, wherever there are suitable 

 banks for it to bore its nesting-hole, though, owing to 

 the absence of these in many localities, it is not as 

 generally distributed. Odd birds are usually seen first 

 of any of the Hirundinidae, but the bulk arrive and 

 depart at much the same periods as the Swallow. The 

 favourite breeding-places of the Sand-Martin are the 

 sandy banks of brooks and rivers, but Mr, W. A. Durn- 

 ford says that it nests also on Walney Island, and it is 

 often found in gravel-pits, and where land-slips have 

 occurred, at some distance from any water. Fresh 

 eggs may be found from the last week of May to the 

 middle of June, and seven is the usual number, though 

 many nests only contain six. 



FAMILY CERTHIIDiE.— GENUS CERTHIA. 



TREE-CREEPER. 



Certhia familiaris, Linnaeus. 



Resident, local, and nowhere common ; having 

 apparently decreased in numbers. In the Clitheroe 

 district it was numerous in 1832, according to Mr. 



