226 



HIRUNDINIDE. 



20th of October. Young birds in the nest have been seen 

 also in other parts as late as the 21st and 23rd of October. 



About the middle of October, however, Martins generally 

 leave this country in large flocks, having previously assem- 

 bled on house tops, about churches, and lofty trees. White 

 saw a small flock as late as the 3rd of November. A flock 

 of more than one hundred were seen collected at Dover on 

 the 13th of November 1831, and apparently going off. 

 Montagu, in his Supplement, mentions having seen Martins 

 daily in the neighbourhood of Kingsbridge as late as the 15th 

 of November, in the year 1805. A flock of two hundred 

 were seen at Barnstaple on the 17th of November 1838 ; 

 and the Rev. W. F. Cornish mentions having seen one, near 

 the cliff, over the brook, at Sidmouth, in a Avarm situation 

 fronting the south, so late as the 10th of December, in 1835. 



The Martin is a regular summer visiter to the British 

 Islands, and considerable numbers go annually to Denmark, 

 Sweden, Norway, and the southern part of Lapland. Mr. 

 Lloyd, in his Field Sports of the North of Europe, mentions 

 that in Lapland he has frequently seen numbers of pots at- 

 tached to houses, placed there to induce the Martins to build 

 in them, in order to secure the benefit of their services in 

 devouring the musquitoes. The Fabers, and other northern 

 naturalists, include our Martin among the regular summer 

 visiters to the Faroe Islands, and even to Iceland. Pennant 

 says it is common in Siberia, and from thence southward is 

 found in most of the countries visited by the Swallow. 



In the adult male bird the beak is short and black ; the 

 irides brown ; the top of the head, ear-coverts, back of the 

 neck, wing-coverts, and back, are of a rich, glossy, bluish 

 black ; rump, and upper tail-coverts, white ; feathers of the 

 wnngs and tail dull black : the wings reaching to the end of 

 the tail, which is forked ; chin, and all the under surface of 

 the body, white ; legs and toes small, and covered with short 



