178 HOUSE-MARTINS. 



congregations usually begin to take place about the 

 first week in August ; and, therefore, we may con- 

 clude that, by that time, the first flight is pretty well 

 over. The young of this species do not quit their 

 abodes altogether ; but the more forward birds get 

 abroad some days before the rest. These, approach- 

 ing the eaves of buildings, and playing about before 

 them, make people think that several old ones attend 

 one nest. They are often capricious in fixing on a 

 nesting-place, beginning many edifices, and leaving 

 them unfinished ; but, when once a nest is completed 

 in a sheltered place, it serves for several seasons. 

 Those which breed in a ready finished house get the 

 start, in hatching, of those that build new, by ten 

 days or a fortnight. These industrious artificers are 

 at their labours in the long days before four in the 

 morning : when they fix their materials, they plaster 

 them on with their chins, moving their heads with a 

 quick vibratory motion. They dip and wash as they 

 fly sometimes, in very hot weather, but not so fre- 

 quently as swallows. It has been observed, that 

 martins usually build to a north-east or north-west 

 aspect, that the heat of the sun may not crack and 

 destroy their nests : but instances are also remem- 

 bered where they bred for many years in vast abund- 

 ance in an hot stifled inn-yard, against a wall facing 

 to the south. 



Birds in general are wise in their choice of situa- 

 tion ; but, in this neighbourhood, every summer, is 

 seen a strong proof to the contrary, at an house 

 without eaves, in an exposed district, where some 

 martins build, year by year, in the corners of the 

 windows. But, as the corners of these windows 

 (which face to the south-east and south-west,) are 

 too shallow, the nests are washed down every hard 

 rain ; and yet these birds drudge on to no purpose, 

 from summer to summer, without changing their 



12 " 



