SAND-MAETINS. 183 



tion of this little bird, since it is f era naturd, at least in this 

 part of the kingdom, disclaiming all domestic attachments, 

 and haunting wild heaths and commons where there are large 

 lakes ; while the other species, especially the swallow and 

 house-martin, are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and 

 never seem to think themselves safe but under the protection 

 of man. 



Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the 

 lake of Wolmer Forest, several colonies of these birds; and yet 

 they are never seen in the village, nor do they at all frequent 

 the cottages that are scattered about in that wild district. 

 The only instance I ever remember where this species 

 haunts any building, is at the town of Bishop's Waltham, in 

 this county, where many sand-martins nestle and breed in 

 the scaffold holes of the back wall of William of Wykeham's 

 stables ; but then this wall stands in a very sequestered and 

 retired enclosure, and faces upon a large and beautiful lake. 

 And, indeed, this species seems so to delight in large waters, 

 that no instance occurs of their abounding but near vast 

 pools or rivers ; and, in particular, it has been remarked that 

 they swarm in the banks of the Thames, in some places 

 below London Bridge. 



It is curious to observe with what different degrees of 

 architectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the same 

 genus, and so nearly correspondent in their general mode of 

 life ; for, while the swallow and the house-martin discover 

 the greatest address in raising and securely fixing crusts or 

 shells of loam, as cunabula for their young, the bank-martin 

 terebrates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth, 

 which is serpentine, horizontal, and about two feet deep. At 

 the inner end of this burrow does this bird deposit, in a good 

 degree of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine grasses 

 and feathers, usually goose feathers, very inartificially laid 

 together.* 



Perseverance will accomplish anything : though at first 



* M. Eugene Robert communicated to the Academy of Sciences at Paris a 

 curious observation that he had made in the case of some nests of the sand- 

 martin, -which he had an opportunity of examining. He noticed that they 

 were lined or plastered over with a sort of matter, which he believed to be the 

 spawn of fish, and which helped to prevent the sand from falling down into 

 the nest. W. JKNYNS. 



