PASSEJiES. ( 141 ) HIRUNDINID^. 



THE MARTIN. 



HOUSE SWALLOW, WINDOW SWALLOW, HOUSE MARTIN, 

 MARTINET, MARTLET, WHITE-RUMPED SWALLOW. 



Chelidon urhica. 



This guest of Summer, 

 The temple-hawiting Martlet doth approve. 

 By his loved mansionry , that the heavefi's h-eath 

 Smells wooingly here ; 7io jiitty frieze. 

 Buttress, nor coign of vatitage, but this bird 

 Hath made his pendant bed, and procreant cradle : 

 Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed. 

 The air is delicate. 



Shakespeare, Macbeth. 



The Martin or Window Swallow generally arrives in the 

 county a little later in spring than the Chimney Swallow,^ 

 and, like the latter, is a much loved bird. Its pleasing 

 appearance and manners, as well as its familiarity in build- 

 ing its nest in the corners of our windows, render it a general 

 favourite ; while its soft, cheerful twitter, heard in the dawn 

 of early summer mornings, is associated in our minds with 

 the most delightful period of the year — 



When May is in his prime, and youthful Spring 



Doth clothe the trees with leaves, and ground with flowers. 



Thomas Watson, 1581. 



The Martin differs from the Chimney Swallow in its nesting 



habits, and it may likewise be easily distinguished from the 



1 The earliest date of its arrival in Berwickshire for the last fifty years was 

 on the 21st of April 1874, and the latest on the 14th of May 1877. See Ornitho- 

 logical Calendar of Benvickshire, in the Appendix, at the end of voL ii. of this 

 work. 



