IN: THE, NORTHIOR. KENT, 63 
being just suitable for the purpose, not too 
hard for their beaks to work in, and yet not 
soft enough to collapse. The holes were all 
fresh this season, a labourer told us, as the 
last year’s ones had been quarried out during 
the winter. Plate X shows a near view 
of the quarry. The tunnels were, as usual, 
out of reach, but from a sloping field on one 
side I was able to get good photographs at 
just the proper elevation. The large holes 
seen in the Plate, one with a root project- 
ing, are rabbit burrows. There was no chance 
of getting any of the birds to remain quiet 
enough for even a snapshot of them, as they 
kept coming out of their holes off their nests, 
disturbed by us as we approached, almost as if 
shot from a catapult, and on re-entering did 
so unhesitatingly, reaching unerringly their 
own particular hole each time, and not stop- 
ping in their flight till they were well in it. 
Sand martins have been described in Part II. 
pp. 150-2. 
Leaving this interesting colony of some 
fifty birds, we proceeded down the lane, 
