BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 217 



MARTIN. Also MARTIN, HOUSE. 



(Chelidon uroica.) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family HIRUNDINIDJE (SWALLOWS). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length about five 

 and a quarter inches. Bill short, flat, and wide 

 at the base, and black. Irides brown. Crown, 

 nape, and sides of the head, back, and wing-coverts, 

 dark steely-blue. Wing-quills dull black ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts white ; tail-quills dull black. 

 The tail is forked, but so much less so than that 

 of the Swallow that, apart from any difference of 

 coloration, it easily distinguishes the bird. Chin, 

 throat, breast, belly, and under-parts generally, 

 white. Legs and toes short, and almost hidden by 

 a profusion of fine, soft, white feathers. Claws grey. 



The female is very similar indeed in appearance, 

 although her plumage is perhaps not so bright, 



Situation and Locality. Under the eaves of 

 houses, stables, barns, and other buildings, angles of 

 windows, under the projecting " through " stones 

 of barns ; in nooks and corners of rocks and sea 

 cliffs. I know a small stable in Surrey, under the 

 eaves of which, and principally on the side with a 

 south-east aspect, I have counted forty-seven occu- 

 pied nests several years in succession. My brother 

 and I went down in 1894 specially to photograph 

 the building, and to our great disappointment there 

 was not a single nest under its eaves ! The owner 

 informed us that it was the first time he had noticed 

 the absence of the Martins for twenty- five years, and 

 attributed it to the droughty summer of 1893 

 having made suitable building materials difficult to 

 procure, and the unbearable persecution and robbery 



