THE MARTIN. 143 



insects to feed their olfspring, owing to the lateness of the 

 season, or having abandoned the young, the sudden occur- 

 rence of cold weather and consequent failure of food having 

 forced them to migrate southwards.^ 



The young of the first brood congregate together, and 

 may be seen sitting in flocks on the top of buildings ^ in 

 August, when they are supposed to proceed to the south ; 

 the parents and the fledged young of the second brood 

 following later in the season. The food of the Martin con- 

 sists wholly of insects. Mr. Seebohm says that scarcely 

 anything is known of the winter quarters of the Martin, 

 which are probably somewhere in Central Africa.^ 



Swallow Craig, a steep precipice on the sea-coast near 

 Oldcambus, Swallowheugh near Chirnside, and Swallowdean 

 in the neighbourhood of Broomhouse, have apparently de- 

 rived theii' names from being frequented by numbers of the 

 Martin or Window Swallow. 



1 Darwin, in referring to the instincts of animals in his Descent of Man, 

 says : — " But the most ciirions instance known to me of one instinct conquering 

 another is the migratory instinct conquering the maternal instinct. The migratory 

 instinct is so powerful that late in autumn Swallows and House Martins frequently 

 desert their tender young, leaving them to perish ruiserably in their nests." — 

 Vol. i., London 1871, pp. 83, 84. 



2 Mr. Hardy mentions that large numbers of old and young Window Swallows 

 were observed assembled on the top of Coldingham Church on 10th August 1857. 

 He also says that they have a gathering-place at Bleakheugh on the coast, near 

 Gunsgreen, whence they set oiit on their journey southwards in autumn, — 

 MS. Notes. 



3 Seebohm's British Birds, vol. ii. p. 178. 





