SPRING BIRD LIFE 29 



generally known are the members of the swallow 

 tribe. The warblers, whose food is mainly in the 

 caterpillar, and soft intermediate stages, may, and 

 occasionally do weather a mild winter ; all feeders 

 on insects in the winged state must go, or perish. 

 The lingering of a late brood of swallows has led 

 to the application of a false analogy to account for 

 their disappearance. No bird does hibernate ; and, 

 it would be a strange fact if the warmest blooded 

 of all animals did. This year boys were chasing 

 swallows, which could by no means leave the 

 country, in the streets of St. Andrews, as late as the 

 twelfth of November. 



The earliest to arrive, at least they are due 

 on the same day as the chimney-swallows, are the 

 sand-martins. They are the smallest of all known 

 species, and are singular, among our visitors, for 

 their mouse - coloured back, and jerky flight. 

 Last year, they reached their village, in the soft 

 sandstone cliffs of St. Andrews, on the eleventh 

 of April. Next day, the wind changed to the east, 

 bringing the usual chill, and they disappeared ; 

 returning on the fifteenth of the same month. 



O 



Plainly, they had departed south again, beyond 

 the limit of the cold snap, which had probably 

 checked the development of insect life. 



