136 
against the wall. When it builds in a crevice or 
other spot which has not been prepared for it, the 
nest is found to consist of dried grass, leaves, moss, 
feathers, &c., and in breeding time contains from 
four to six white eggs. The Purple Martin feeds 
mostly upon the larger insects, such as wasps, 
bees, beetles, &e. 
NEAR LEING Ss ND: 
Hirunpo riparia, Lin. 
This bird, the earliest of the tribe in its visit to 
Great Britain, and the smallest of the genus ever 
seen in this country, is first observed about the 
end of March, and takes its departure about the 
middle of September. It is partially distributed 
throughout this country, and is said to be more 
numerous than the other species in the Orkney 
Islands, but is found in considerable numbers only 
in those districts which offer suitable situations for 
its peculiar mode of nidification. The places 
which it selects for this purpose are the precipitous 
sandy banks which border rivers. In these, by 
means of its bill and claws, it burrows horizontally 
to a considerable depth, and at the end of the hole 
makes a nest of hay, straw, feathers, &c., in which 
