220 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



Throat and breast white, the latter having a 

 band of lightish brown running across it. Belly 

 and under-parts white. Legs and toes reddish- 

 brown. The brown tinge of the upper-parts and the 

 smaller size readily distinguish this bird from the 

 House Martin. 



The female differs very slightly from the male. 



Situation and Locality. At the extremity of 

 a tunnel, dug by the bird's own exertions. It varies 

 in length from eighteen inches to three or four 

 feet, and generally slopes upwards from the entrance 

 to the little round chamber in which the nest is 

 situated. The gallery is about two inches in 

 diameter, and generally crooked. In the banks of 

 rivers, sand pits, railway cuttings, and lanes with 

 high, sandy banks. Our illustration is from a photo- 

 graph taken near Nutfield, Surrey, and is of double 

 interest firstly, it is quite away from any water, 

 and secondly, every nest was taken possession of in 

 1894 by House Sparrows. These little birds breed 

 all over the country, penetrating to the distant 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands. 



Materials. Straw and grass stems, with an 

 inner lining of feathers. The whole is very loosely 

 put together, and I have met with specimens with no 

 feathers at all, and but very few straws whereon 

 the eggs were laid. 



Eggs.- Four or five, seldom six ; pure white 

 when blown. The shell is so thin and semitrans- 

 parent that the yolk shows through and gives the 

 egg a pinky tinge. Size about .7 by .48 in. 



Time. May, June, and July. 



Remarks. Migratory, arriving in this country 

 in March and April, and leaving in September and 

 October. Call-notes loud and harsh, something 



