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circumstances attending the life and conversation of this little 

 bird, since it is / 'era 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 spe- 

 cies, 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 fre- 

 quent 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 archi- 

 tectonic 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 one 

 would be disinclined to believe that this weak bird, with her 

 soft and tender bill and claws, should ever be able to bore the 

 stubborn sand-bank without entirely disabling herself ; yet with 

 these feeble instruments have I seen a pair of them make great 

 despatch, and could remark how much they had scooped that 

 day by the fresh sand which ran down the bank, and was of 



