HOUSE AND SAND MAETINS — SWIFT. HI 



Gilbert White (who was at Oriel Colleg-e, about the years 

 1739 to 1755) mentions seeing one on a very warm sunny 

 morning flying about Christ Church quadrangle on the 20th 

 November, and Mr. W. Warde Fowler writes, ' In some years 

 they may be seen on sunny days, even up to the end of the 

 first week of November, hawking for flies about the meadow- 

 front of Merton, probably the warmest spot in Oxford ' {A 

 Year with the Birds, p. 5). 



THE SAND MARTIN. ' ' 



Cotile riparia. 



The Sand Martin is a common summer visitor, arriving 

 about mid April and leaving in September. Breeding 

 generally in colonies in the face of sand-pits, railway cut- 

 tings, and such like places, it is naturally somewhat local in 

 its distribution in the nesting season, but on its arrival in 

 spring, and again previous to its departure in autumn, it 

 betakes itself to the neighbourhood of rivers and pools, 

 where it may be seen skimming over the surface of the 

 water far from its breeding haunts. Certain spots are an- 

 nually affected by them, the young appearing there in July. 

 Both the Swallow and Martin are partial to the vicinity of 

 water, because insect Ufe is more plentiful there than in drier 

 situations, but the present species is even more so, and in the 

 height of the breeding season, especially if the weather should 

 be cold, many of our rivers and streams are frequented by 

 these delicate Httle birds, which must have come from some 

 considerable distance from their colonies for the sake of feed- 

 ing over the siu'face of the water. 



THE SWIFT. J J 



Cypselus apus. 

 The Swift is a summer migrant, arriving generally in the 

 first or second week in May, and the bulk of them leaving us 

 by the middle of August ; in some seasons a few remain until 



