154 MARTIN. 
to me by Mr. George B. Clarke, of Woburn, Bedfordshire, 
has been recorded in ‘The Naturalist,’ vol. i., pages 23-24:— 
‘In the summer of 1849, a pair of Martins built their nest in 
au archway at the stables of Woburn Abbey, Beds., and as 
soon as they had completed building it, and had lined it, 
a Sparrow took possession of it, and although the Martins 
tried several times to eject him, they were unsuccessful; but 
they, nothing daunted, leaving him in full possession, flew 
off to scour the neighbourhood for help, and returned in a 
short space of time with about thirty or forty Martins, who 
dragged the unfortunate culprit out, took him to the grass- 
plot opposite, called ‘the circle,’ and there all fell on him, 
and killed him. This was related to me by an eye-witness, 
a day or two after the occurrence took place.’ 
So also, in the ‘Zoologist, page 2605, Mr. J. J. Briggs 
relates, ‘In the year 1846, a pair of House Martins built 
their nest beneath one of the windows of our house, and had 
just made it ready for the reception of eggs, when two 
Sparrows took possession of it, and defied all the efforts of 
the rightful owners to force them out. During the absence 
of the | Sparrows one day, the Swallows blocked up the entrance, 
and finally built another nest over it, and so excluded the 
usurpers.’ Also, ‘in 1836, I was an eye-witness to an inter- 
esting circumstance, which illustrated the natural affection of 
this bird. During the third week in October, a pair of Martins 
built a nest underneath the battlements of one of the public 
buildings in Derby, in a warm and sheltered situation. At 
the end of the month, the main body of Martins departed, 
leaving this pair behind, which continued in the neighbour- 
hood until the extraordinarily late period of November 27th., 
when the young being fledged, left the nest, and they and 
their parents disappeared together. This appeared to me 
extraordinary, as | have known more than one instance in 
which the old birds have forsaken their offspring to obey the 
migratory impulse: sometimes, if a nest is examined immedi- 
ately after the departure of a pair of these birds, the young 
will be found half-fledged, and evidently having died from 
starvation, occasioned by the parents abondoning them.’ 
The flight of the Martin is powerful and rapid, but often 
wavering and unsteady. 
Its food consists of insects, 
Its note is a lively twitter, often elevated, especially early 
in the morning, into an extremely pleasing warble. 
