244 T'he Natural History of Se I borne 



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. 1 



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

 lakes of Woolmer 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 ; 2 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, 



1 This was doubtless the case in White's time, when the open heaths 

 and uplands of England were hut little inhabited ; but at the present day, 

 sand-martins are very familiar birds in many parts of southern Britain. It 

 must be borne in mind that the immense number of railway-cuttings and 

 of exposed sand-banks on the better-graded roads must have afforded an im- 

 mensely larger opening for sand-martin enterprise. The species is therefore 

 in all probability much more numerous in individuals now than formerly, 

 and may be observed in many quite populous places. Immense numbers 

 of these pretty birds, for example, build at present in the railway-cutting 

 near Gomshall Station on the South Eastern line. ED. 2 I do not 

 think this is now correct. Sand-martins abound in many dry districts 

 tolerably remote from lakes or rivers. ED. 



