HOUSE-MARTINS. 1 75 



LETTER LV. 



I v 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARRINGTON. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 20, 1773. 

 DEAR SIR, 



IN obedience to your injunctions, I sit down to 

 give you some account of the house-martin, or mart- 

 let ; and, if my monography of this little domestic 

 and familiar bird should happen to meet with your 

 approbation, I may probably soon extend my inquiries 

 to the rest of the British hirundines, the swallow, 

 the swift, and the bank-martin. 



A few house-martins begin to appear about the 

 1 6th of April ; usually some few days later than the 

 swallow. For some time after they appear, the 

 hirundines in general pay no attention to the busi- 

 ness of nidification, but play and sport about, either 

 to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they 

 do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover 

 its true tone and texture after it has been so long 

 benumbed by the severities of winter. About the 

 middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin 

 begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion 

 for its family. The crust, or shell, of this nest seems 

 to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most 

 readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought to- 

 gether with little bits of broken straws, to render 

 it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds 

 against a perpendicular wall, without any project- 

 ing ledge under it, it requires its utmost efforts 

 to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it 

 may safely carry the superstructure. On this oc- 



