[ea6y 
localities to their winter quarters put in an appearance, but soon they pass on and are no 
more seen till spring comes again. 
3. THe Sanp Marriy.—Yet one more member of this interesting family is a regular 
visitor to our land, and this is the earliest to arrive, frequently putting in an appearance 
towards the end of March, when it is generally recorded by not very observant people as the 
“ Swallow,” which bird, however, does not reach us till some time later. The active little Sand 
Martin is in no hurry to commence the duties of maternity, and for some weeks it may be 
seen busily hunting for insects showing great partiality for water. Its flight differs from 
that of the two preceding species; although equally rapid, it is distinguished by a peculiar 
jerking mction, which is admirably described by Macgillivray as follows :—‘ There comes a 
Bank Martin, skimming along the surface of the brook, gliding from side to side, deviating 
by starts, now sweeping over the bank, wheeling across the road, making an excursion over 
the cornfield, then rising perpendicularly, 
slanting away down the wind, fluttering 
among tie spikes of the long grass, and 
shooting off into the midst of a multi- 
99 
tude of its fellows.” Mr. Stevenson, who 
quotes this passage in his ‘ Birds of 
Norfolk,’’ adds, “Almost as one reads 
this graphic passage, low hurried twitter- 
ings seem to fall upon the ear, and he 
who in his mind’s eye cannot see that 
Martin is no true lover of Nature.” 
When the time does arrive for these 
vay little birds to turn their attention to 
more serious matters, unlike the two 
SAND MARTIN. other members of the family, they 
repair to some railway cutting, a sand 
or chalk pit, or other suitable locality, and there congregating, often in very large numbers, 
they form for themselves little burrows in the face of the cliff, from two to three or even 
more feet deep in the friable soil, at the far end of which the nest is placed, and here are 
deposited, on a collection of roots or grass, lined with feathers, the five or six pure white 
egos. These nest-holes are sometimes very numerous and in close proximity, and the labour 
incurred in excavating them must be immense; probably the same hole is occupied year after 
year by the same pair of birds, and it occasionally happens that a Kingfisher takes 
possession of one of the burrows, which it slightly enlarges for its own purposes. Some years 
ago, the writer saw a colony of “Sand” Martins which had taken possession of a large heap 
of sawdust, consolidated by time, and in the face of which they had driven their galleries. 
It is a pretty sight to watch these little mouse-like birds going to and from their nests 
in perpetual streams, returning with unerring precision each one to its own burrow, at the 
entrance of which it alights and immediately disappears into the depths. When the 
