62 A LONGSDAY WITH” THE (BIRDS 
some remain. Many come to us in the winter 
from the Continent. The food is chiefly in- 
sects, seeds, and worms. They find it mostly 
on the ground. The colour of the plumage 
is brown of lighter and darker shades, the 
general colour as seen in the fields being 
sandy brown. Its flight when not soaring 
to sing is dipping. The under parts are 
yellowish white, tinged with brown. There 
is a white mark over the eye. The throat 
and upper part of the body in front are spotted 
dark brown. 
Then we pursued our way along a hedged 
road that sloped down into a valley beyond, 
rising soon again. On the right of this road 
were many sand martins flitting low across 
the field in search of insects as is their way, 
and not far off was their home, a small neat 
quarry in the soft yet well-packed yellowish 
sandy soil. The interior formed a bare-faced 
perpendicular cutting from which the gravel 
had been taken, corn growing right up to 
the extreme edge. The birds had tunnelled 
this with many holes, the nature of the sand 
