166 HOUSE-MABTINS. 



ruined by its own weight. By this method, in about ten or 

 twelve days, is formed an hemispheric nest, with a small 

 aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm, and 

 perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. 

 But, then, nothing is more common than for the house-spar- 

 row, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as its own, 

 to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner.* 



After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, 

 as nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on, for 

 several years together, in the same nest, where it happens to 

 be well sheltered and secure from the injuries of weather. 

 The shell, or crust, of the nest is a sort of rustic-work, full 

 of knobs and protuberances on the outside ; nor is the inside 

 of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness 

 at all ; but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, 

 by a lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers ; and some- 

 times by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. In this nest, 

 they tread, or engender, frequently during the time of 

 building ; and the hen lays from three to five white eggs.f 



At first, when the young are hatched, and are in a naked 

 and helpless condition, the parent birds, with tender assiduity, 

 carry out what comes away from their young. Were it not 

 for this affectionate cleanliness, the nestlings would soon be 

 burnt up and destroyed, in so deep and hollow a nest, by 

 their own caustic excrement. In the quadruped creation, 



* Several interesting facts have been communicated to me of the revenge- 

 ful disposition of martins, when their nests have been invaded by sparrows. 

 In one instance at Hampton Court, a gentleman informed me the morning it 

 took place that a couple of sparrows had hatched their young in a martin's 

 nest. Two or three days afterwards, a number of martins came, pecked the 

 nest to pieces, and I saw the unfledged young dead on the ground beneath the 

 window. In another instance, the foreman of the carpenters at the palace, 

 Hampton Court, informed me, that while working at his bench close to the 

 window, a pair of swallows built their nest in a corner of it and where he 

 frequently watched it. When completed some sparrows took possession of it, 

 and deposited their eggs. While the hen was sitting on them, several martins 

 came and closed up the hole. After a few weeks he examined the nest 

 and found the bird dead on her eggs. I could mention other similar 

 instances. ED. 



f This is certainly a mistake. Mr. White could not have seen the circum- 

 stance even had it taken place, from the construction of the nest. In fact, 

 both the martin and swift copulate on the wing as I have frequently seen 

 them do. ED. 



