MAKTIN. 



tlic parent birds before they are capable of ])roviding for 

 themselves, till the spring of 1821 ; Avhen a pair of House 

 Martins, after taking possession of a nest Avhich had been 

 constructed in the preceding summer, drew out the dried 

 bodies of three nearly full-fledged nestlings which had pe- 

 rished in it, preparatory to appropriating it to their own pur- 

 poses. About the same time, and near the same spot, a 

 similar attempt was made by another pair of House Martins ; 

 but all their efforts to dislodge the young proving ineffectual, 

 they entirely closed up the aperture with clay, and so con- 

 verted the nest into a sepulchre. A t first I was disposed to 

 attribute the untimely fate of the nestlings, thus unexpectedly 

 discovered, to the accidental destruction of one or both of 

 the parents ; but a little reflection induced me to change my 

 opinion. So many instances were called to mind of the 

 sudden departure of House Martins, at periods when, to all 

 appearance, they were most busily engaged in providing for 

 their families, that what before was regarded as the unavoid- 

 able consequence of a fortuitous circumstance, I now began 

 to suspect might be occasioned by a voluntary act of deser- 

 tion. To clear up this doubtful point several examinations 

 Avere made, at the second of which on the 22nd of October, 

 1822, several nests, both of Swallows and JNIartins, were 

 found to contain dead young ones. At a third search on the 

 19th of November, 1825, fourteen nests were examined; 

 five of them contained dead nestlings, and one nest contained 

 two eggs, whose contents very evidently showed that they 

 had been forsaken when on the point of being hatched. A 

 fourth search was made on the lltli of November 1826, when 

 it was found that of twenty-two nests then examined, eight 

 of them contained dead young birds, amounting together to 

 nineteen ; and five nests contained eggs amounting together 

 to sixteen. Mr. Blackwall mentions having seen a pair of 

 House Martins feeding their unfledged young as late as the 



VOL. II. Q 



