110 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



resulting increase in the number of Martins was quite extraordinary. ' 

 Commencing with the year 1870, he had in successive years the 

 following number of nests on his house : — 7, 20, 45, 51, 68, 81, 100 



and no. After this the 

 number remained station- 

 ary at about 130, that being, 

 apparently, the greatest 

 number that could obtain 

 subsistence. Col. Russell's 

 evidence as to the injurious 

 nature of Sparrows, is not 

 less interesting, but is out 

 of place here. 



Henry Doubleday saw thirty 

 or forty flying together at 

 Fpping on October 15th, i865 

 (34. 523). Mr. Laver records 

 (29. Nov. 11) having observed 

 a party of ten hawking over Col- 

 MARTiN, Yi. Chester on the 5th of November, 



1882. They eventually disappeared to the westward. On Nov. 22nd, 1888, two 

 were observed for fully an hour at Woodham Walter (50. ii. 270). Mr. Philip 

 Papillon saw a specimen at Colchester on Dec. 23rd, 1869 (29. Jan. 3rd, 1870). 

 At Harwich, Mr. Kerry says " it decreases in numbers every 3-ear." I am inclined 

 to think that the same remark applies to the entire county. 



Sand-Martin : Cottle riparia. 



A common summer visitor wherever there are sandy river- or 

 pit-banks suited to its nesting habits. It usually appears about the 

 end of March and disappears again during September, although in 

 1865, Lieut. Legge saw a pair near Shoebury on November i8th 

 (34. 92), and Mr. Hope mentions having observed them in Essex in 

 Christmas week — a very remarkable date. Its nesting-colonies are 

 found throughout the county wherever there are suitable sandy 



banks. 



Edward Doubleday says (i;) it occurs at Epping, but does not breed there, 

 The Rev. J. C. Atkinson says (36. loi) : "A ballast-pit at Fingringhoe, in Essex, 

 is occupied by the most numerous colony I am acquainted with." They have oc- 

 casionally been known to nest in walls. Dr. Laver, for instance, saw several pairs 

 carrying nesting-materials into holes in the stone walls of Colchester Castle, 

 on May 25th, 1878 (29. June i). Probably the scarcity of sandy banks through- 

 out the district led them to this. 



[Purple Martin : Progne purpurea. 



An American species, which has been admitted into the British List, 

 chiefly on the strength of a specimen said to have been shot near Kings- 

 town about 1840, but there are not sufficient grounds for allowing its 



