A FALSE EXPLANATION 251 



The harsher sound meant welcome, and the softer 

 one, unwillingness. 



" That there is some interest taken by the martins 

 of a neighbourhood — or, at least, of any little 

 colony — in the nests built by their fellows, seems 

 clear, and I have recorded, both the friendly 

 entries of one bird into two nests, each of which 

 was occupied by another, and the struggles of two, 

 to enter one, where, also, the partner bird, either 

 of one or the other, was sitting. All these facts 

 together seem best explained by supposing that the 

 female house-martin is something of a light-o'-love, 

 and that when she builds her nest, more than one 

 male holds himself entitled to claim both it and her, 

 as his own. If, for some reasons, we feel unable to 

 adopt this view, we may fall back upon that of a 

 social or communistic feeling, as yet imperfectly 

 developed, and wavering, sometimes, between friend- 

 liness and hostility. Be it as it may, the facts which 

 I have noted appear to me to be of interest. In 

 regard to the last-mentioned one — the interest, 

 namely, manifested by several birds, in nests not 

 their own — White of Selborne says : ' The young 

 of this species do not quit their abodes all together ; 

 but the more forward birds get abroad some days 

 before the rest. These, approaching the eaves of 

 buildings, and playing about before them, make 

 people think that several old ones attend one nest.' 

 How does this apply here .? ' Nohow,' I reply 

 (with Tweedledee), for no young birds could possibly 

 have left the nests, at this date (June 5). I doubt, 

 indeed, whether any eggs had been hatched. White, 

 living in a southern county, says elsewhere (Letter 



