278 HIRUNDINID^. 



are souglit out, and the two species may frequently be 

 seen hawking for flies in company. Later in the season 

 its numbers are observed to be greatly increased, and it 

 is joined by the Swift and Sand-Martin. 'Not that any 

 society is entered into by the different species, or that 

 they even sport together : but one may often stand on the 

 bank of a canal, or by the margin of a pond, and see all 

 four kinds glance by in varied succession, and in propor- 

 tions which differ according as one or the other is most 

 abundant in the neighbourhood. Acute listeners can, it is 

 said, hear a snapping noise made by the bird as it closes 

 its beak on a captured insect, but I must confess that 

 though I have often tried to detect this sound, I have 

 never succeeded. Swift as their passage is, and similar 

 though the flight of all the species, no difficulty is found 

 in distinguishing them. The Chimney-Swallow is suffi- 

 ciently marked by its long forked tail and red chin ; the 

 House-Martin by the snow-white hue of its abdomen and 

 lower part of the back, and by its shorter tail, which is also 

 forked : the Sand-Martin by its smaller size, its greyish 

 brown back and dirty-Avhite under plumage, as well as by 

 its shorter, slightly forked tail : and the Swift can be 

 distinguished at any distance by its shape, which resembles 

 a bent bow, with the body representing an arrow ready to 

 be shot. On a nearer view, the Swift is marked by its 

 general black hue relieved only by a spot of white on the 

 chin, which it requires a sharp eye to detect. All the 

 species have the power of suddenly, and with the greatest 

 rapidity, altering their course by a slight movement of 

 the wings and tail. 



Immediately on its arrival in this country, the Martin 

 jDays a visit to its old dwelling, clings to its walls, peeps in 

 or even enters, many times a day. One might fancy that 

 there throbbed within its snowy bosom some pulse akin to 

 that which kindles in the human traveller a longing for 

 liome and the familiar haunts of his early days. It has 



