158 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



of wliicL, and priucipally on the side with a 

 south-east aspect, I have counted forty-seven nests 

 several years in succession. My hrotlier and I went 

 dow^n in 1894 specially to photograph the building, 

 and to our great disappointment there was not a 

 single nest under its eaves ! The owner informed 

 us that it was the first time he had noticed the 

 absence of the Martins for twenty-five years, and 

 attributed it to the droughty summer of 1893 

 having made suitable building materials difficult to 

 procure, and the unbearable persecution and robbery 

 of the Sparrows. Genei-al over the British Isles. 



Materials. — Clay or mud made into pellets and 

 cemented together until they form a kind of shell 

 like the half of a deep basin, fixed close up under 

 an eave or projecting object, with a small elliptical 

 hole at the top, and generally on- one side. It is 

 lined internally with hits of straw, hay, and 

 feathers. 



Eqgs. — Four to five, rarely six ; white and un- 

 spotted, the yoke giving them a slight pinky tinge 

 before they are blown. I see by my list of rare 

 natural history notes, culled from -that admirable 

 paper, that one or two observers have recorded 

 in the Field the finding of rust-red spotted speci- 

 mens ; but I have never met wuth a single Qgg 

 showing any inclination in this direction out of many 

 scores of nests examined. Size about *8 by "52 in. 



Time. — May, June, July, August, and even as 

 late as September. 



Bemarlxs. — Migratory, arriving in April and 

 leaving in September and October ; although indi- 

 viduals are frequently reported in November and 

 even December. Notes : call, something like spitz, 

 but very difficult to represent. Local and other 

 names : Window Martin, Window Swallow, Eave 



