HIRUNDINID.S. 



15 



THE SAND-MARTIN. 



C<')TiLE RiPARiA (Linnffius). 



The Sand-Martin, the smallest member of the family which visits 

 our islands, is one of the earliest species to arrive in spring, often 

 making its appearance during the last week in March. It is also one 

 of the first to quit our shores, its southward migrations commencing 

 in August and terminating in October ; but, exceptionally, it has been 

 known in co. Limerick as late as November 3;th [1859]. Owing to 

 the nature of its haunts it is somewhat locally distributed through- 

 out the British Islands, but upon the whole it is widely diffused ; 

 and, in 1887, Mr. A. H. Evans ascertained that it nested near 

 Lerwick in the Shetlands, where it had not previously been known 

 to breed. In Ireland, according to Mr. More, it is not so numerous 

 as the House-Martin. 



In the Faeroes and Iceland the Sand-Martin has not yet been 

 obtained, but on the Continent it is generally distributed from 70° 

 N. lat. to the Mediterranean in summer ; while it also breeds spar- 

 ingly in the northern districts of Africa, and abundantly in Egypt 

 and Palestine. Eastward, it is found across Asia ; on the American 

 continent it breeds in large colonies in Alaska and up to 68° N. lat. 

 on the Mackenzie Kivcr; and we trace it to Newfoundland. In 



