164 HOUSE-MARTINS. 



LETTEE LY. 



TO THE HON. DAINES BARKINGTON. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 20, 1773. 



DEAR SIR, In obedience to your injunctions, I sit down to 

 give you some account of the house-martin, or martlet ; 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 hvrun- 

 dines, the swallow, the swift, and the bank-martin. 



A few house-martins begin to appear about the 16th 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 business of nidification, but play and 

 sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their jour- 

 ney, 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 



* The following fact strongly illustrates the sense and reflection of a pair of 

 swallows, in the construction of their nests : 



The late Earl of Albemarle informed me that a pair of swallows built their 

 nest under the arch of a lime-kiln belonging to him, at its extreme point, and 

 from which three chimneys or flues branched off. At the time the nest was 

 constructing, the heat of the kiln was so great, that only keeping the hand 

 for a short time within the arch produced a painful sensation. In this spot, 

 however, the nest was nearly completed, when the heat caused it to crumble, 

 and fall to the ground. A second nest was built in the same spot, and after- 

 wards a third, both of which shared tne same fate. A fourth nest was then 

 built, which stood perfectly well, although the heat of the kiln had by no 

 means abated ; and in this nest the swallows hatched and brought up their 

 young. The following year, another nest was begun and finished in the same 

 spot, and with the same heat in the kiln, which stood the influence of the fire, 

 and in which the swallows hatched and reared their brood ; and this was done 

 in the same manner on the third year. The fourth year the swallows did not 

 appear, which the lime-burner considered as very ominous of the future success 

 of the kiln. The birds had probably been killed. The lime-kiln was on 



