196 SAND-MARTINS. 



perchers, and so young and helpless, as easily to be 

 taken by hand ; but whether the dams ever feed them 

 on the wing, as swallows and house-martins do, we 

 have never yet been able to determine ; nor do we 

 know whether they pursue and attack birds of prey. 



When they happen to breed near hedges and enclo- 

 sures, they are dispossessed of their breeding holes by 

 the house-sparrow, which is, on the same account, a 

 fell adversary to house -martins. 



These hirundines are no songsters, but rather mute, 

 making only a little harsh noise when a person ap- 

 proaches their nests. They seem not to be of a so- 

 ciable turn, never with us congregating with their 

 congeners in the autumn. Undoubtedly they breed 

 a second time, like the house -martin and swallow ; 

 and withdraw about Michaelmas. 



Though, in some particular districts, they may 

 happen to abound, yet, on the whole, in the south of 

 England at least, is this much the rarest species ; for 

 there are few towns or large villages but what abound 

 with house-martins; few churches, towers, or steeples, 

 but what are haunted by some swifts ; scarce a hamlet 

 or single cottage chimney that has not its swallow ; 

 while the bank-martins, scattered here and there, live 

 a sequestered life among some abrupt sand hills, and 

 in the banks of some few rivers. 



These birds have a peculiar manner of flying, flitting 

 about with odd jerks and vacillations, not unlike the 

 motions of a butterfly. Doubtless the flight of all 

 hirundines is influenced by, and adapted to, the pecu- 

 liar sort of insects which furnish their food. Hence 

 it would be worth inquiry to examine what particular 

 genus of insects affords the principal food of each 

 respective species of swallow. 



Notwithstanding what has been advanced above, 

 some few sand-martins, I see, haunt the skirts of 

 London, frequenting the dirty pools in St. George's 



