HIRUNDINID^. 



157 



THE MARTIN. 



Chelidox urbica (Linnaeus). 



The Martin, sometimes called the House-Martin to distinguish it 

 from the Sand-Martin, usually arrives a few days later than the 

 Swallow, and is of general distribution during the summer through- 

 out the British Islands. In the north, however, it is rather local 

 and even of irregular occurrence, while in some parts of the 

 north-west it has become decidedly scarcer of late years. It does 

 not appear to visit the Outer Hebrides, and only breeds sparingly 

 in the Orkneys and Shetlands. By the middle of October the bulk 

 of the Martins have left this country, but considerable flocks have 

 been noticed up to the middle of November, and birds — generally 

 young — have been obtained in December. Mr. More says that in 

 Ireland it is less common than the Swallow. 



The Martin is a rare visitor to Iceland, but in the Fa:roes it is not 

 uncommon on the spring migration. In Scandinavia it breeds in 

 colonies, in the rocks as well as under the eaves of dwellings, as far 

 as about lat. 70'^' N., but in Russia its range in that direction is 

 less extensive ; while eastward our bird is not known beyond the 

 valley of the Ob, its place being taken in Siberia by Ch. lagopoda, a 

 well-defined species, with a shorter and squarer tail, and entirely 

 white upper tail-coverts. In the Himalayas the representative 

 species, C/i. cashiniriexsis, is smaller, with shorter and less deeply- 



