192 Ainong the Birds in Northern Shires. 



gathering-places of birds of the Swallow tribe. In 

 August and September Swallows and Martins in 

 countless hosts congregate over them, flitting to and 

 fro in a mazy throng the livelong day, preying upon 

 the swarms of gnats and midges hovering above the 

 surface. These birds are thus forgathering where 

 they have been wont to do for many previous 

 autumns previous to starting off to a winter haunt in 

 Africa. Then in winter not a few shyer and rarer 

 birds are attracted to these open sheets of water, 

 Ducks and Geese and even Wild Swans paying 

 them visits as they roam about the country. There 

 is a fine example of Bewick's Swan in the Weston 

 Park Museum at Sheffield, which was shot from a 

 mill-dam close to the town, an exceptionally favoured 

 spot, for Ducks and various other strange fowl are 

 by no means rare visitors during the winter months. 

 Our sombre little friend, the Sand Martin, loves 

 these dams and reservoirs, and delights to tunnel 

 into the steep banks to make its nest. Numbers of 

 Sand Martins so do at the reservoirs at Hollow 

 Meadows, for instance. The Pied Wagtail delights 

 in such spots, tripping daintily round the water's 

 edge in quest of insects, and building its nest in some 

 hole in a wall or about the hulls. W^e have seen 

 the nest of this species in a crevice of the masonry 

 supporting the heavy cumbersome water-wheel, and 

 not many inches from it, with its continuous splash 



