121 



SWIFT. 



MARTIN DU, OF 'THE ANCIENT BRITISH. 



COMMON SWIFT. SWIFT SWALLOW. BLACK MARTIN. SCREECH. 

 SCREECH MARTIN. SCREAMER. CRAN. SQUEALER. 



PLATE LIX. 



Hirundo opus, LINNAEUS. PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



Cypselus murarius, SELBY. GOULD. 



" apus, JENTNS. 



Micropus murarius, MEYER. 



Br achy pus murarius, MEYER. 



THE nest is generally placed in holes about steeples of churches, and 

 the old walls of lofty towers, as also under the eaves of cottages and 

 barns, crevices under window-sills, and even in hollow trees; under 

 the arches of bridges, in the sides of cliffs, and of chalk-pits. It is 

 roughly formed of straws, wool, grasses, hair, feathers, and such like 

 materials, agglutinated together; picked up with great dexterity while 

 the bird is on the wing, or purloined, so some say, from, or found in 

 the nest of Sparrows, which they appropriate to themselves. It may 

 be that no nest, or next to none, is formed, unless the remains of a 

 Sparrow's nest are used. With the Martins, however, the case is 

 exactly opposite: 'thou art the robber/ they might say or sing to the 

 Sparrow. 



The ordinary number of eggs is for the most part two, but sometimes 

 three; and J. J. Briggs, Esq. has, in one instance, at Melbourne, in 

 Derbyshire, known four. Speaking of the nest that contained them, 

 he also relates f a pair of Swifts has inhabited a particular hole in a 

 cottage for more than twenty summers/ This is not a solitary instance 

 of four eggs being found in one nest. They are white. 

 VOL. i. K. 



