APRIL. 95 



by the martin, who have there fixed there mud 

 nests, lined them with feathers, and laid in them 

 their five or six white eggs spotted with red ; and 

 so strongly are these little creatures attached to the 

 places of their birth, that it is well known that they 

 return to them after flight across the ocean and 

 abode in some distant land. A lady of my ac- 

 quaintance had a nest of martins above her chamber 

 window, which, by some accident, fell when the 

 young were about half-fledged. She had them, four 

 in number, laid in a basket lined with feathers in the 

 chamber window, where the old birds fed them till 

 they were able to fly. The following spring four 

 martins flew in at this window, which happened to 

 stand open, flew round and round the room uttering 

 the most joyful warblings imaginable, then flew out 

 again and proceeded to build their nests just over 

 the window. There can be little doubt that these 

 were the four identical birds of the basket, the old 

 ones either having probably perished, or having taken 

 a disgust to the spot where they had been alarmed by 

 the fall of their nest. 



The sparrows have found a crevice in the eaves, 

 or the roof, or, if it be of thatch, have scooped 

 themselves a large hole, and therein made their 

 nests of hay, lined them with feathers, and laid, 

 each pair, five black-spotted eggs. In defect of a 

 good situation in the house, they disdain not to fix 

 their nest, like a wisp of hay, in a tree near it. They 

 delight, too, to build amongst the sticks of rook-nests, 

 particularly under the mud bottom, which forms a 



