LIX.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



163 



LETTER LIX. 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON. 



THE sand-martin, or bank-martin (Hirundo riparia, Linnaeus), 

 is by much the least of any of the British hirundines ; and, as 

 far as we have ever seen, the smallest known hirundo : though 

 Brissori asserts that there is one much smaller, and that is the 

 Hirundo esculenta. 



But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce possible for 

 any observer to be so full and exact as he could wish in recit- 

 ing the circumstances attending the life and conversation of this 

 little bird, since it \sfera natura, 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 lakes 

 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 build- 

 ing is at the town of Bishop's Walthain, 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 inclosure, and faces 

 upon a large and beautiful lake. 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 archi- 

 tectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the same genus, 



