MARTIN. 153 
of this species as of all the rest. There is, in fact, hardly 
a month, nay, there is hardly a day in the winter half of 
the year, on which, on one occasion or another, a Martin 
has not been seen, either a late arrival, or a late tarrying, 
or one roused up from the lethargic slumber of a torpid 
hybernation, in which it would appear that, in some instances 
at least, these birds are wrapped. ‘The average time of the 
arrival of the Martin is about the 2ist. of April—a few days 
later than the Swallow; but, as already pointed out in the 
ease of that species, after they have made their first appear- 
ance, they often disappear for weeks, and again shew them- 
selves, and then remain through the summer. About the 
middle of October they generally depart in large fiocks, 
having first congregated on house-tops, church-towers and 
roofs, and even on trees. They are often, however, much 
later in leaving us. White of Selborne saw a small flock on 
the 8rd. of November. A flock of more than one hundred 
were seen at Dover, on the 13th. of November, 1831. Montagu 
saw several at Kingsbridge, in Devonshire, until the 15th. of 
November, 1805. A flight of more than two hundred were 
seen at Barnstaple, on the 17th. of November, 1838; and 
the Rev. W. F. Cornish saw one near Sidmouth, on the 10th. 
of December, 1835. 
‘Timid as they appear to be,’ says Bishop Stanley, ‘when 
occasion calls for exertion and courage, they can not only 
fight a good battle, but manifest a good deal of generalship. 
A pair of Martins having built in a corner of a window, 
one, of which, from a remarkable white feather in one of 
its wings, was known to be the same bird which had built 
there the year before, had no sooner finished their nest, than 
a strange Swallow conceived the plan of taking possession 
of the property, and once or twice actually succeeded in 
driving the owners out. For a week there was a constant 
battling; at length the two rightful owners were observed 
to be very busily engaged in lessening the entrance into the 
nest, which in a short time was so reduced, that it was 
with difficulty they could force themselves into i - singly. 
When they had accomplished their object, one or other of 
them always remained within, with its bill sticking out, 
ready to receive any sudden attack. The enemy persevered 
for a week, but at length, finding its prospects hopeless, left 
the pair to enjoy the fruits of their forethought.’ 
The following curious circumstance, originally communicated 
