SAND-MARTIN. 



PASSERES. 



355 



HIRUNDTNID.E. 





COTILE RIPARIA (LiimaBus*). 



THE SAND-MARTIN. 



Hirundo riparia. 



CoTiLE, F. Boie +. — Bill short, depressed and very wide at the base, commis- 

 sure straight. Nostrils basal, oval, partly closed by a membrane and opening 

 laterally. Wings, with nine primaries, long and pointed. Tail forked, of twelve 

 feathers, the outermost not abriiptly attenuated. Legs and feet slender, and 

 bare except a tuft of feathers on the tarsus just above the hallux ; toes moderate, 

 three in front, one behind ; claws strong. 



The Sand-Martin is the smallest of the Hirundinidce of 

 this country, and commonly the earliest to arrive in spring ; 

 but, not presenting itself to the gaze of men by at once 

 frequenting their habitations, its annual return is not so 

 regularly or so generally noticed. I Indeed for some time 



* Hirundo riparia, Linnoeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 344. 



+ Isis, 1822, p. 550. 



X The Editor suspects that most of the " Early Swallows " of newspaper-para- 



