256 LETTERS TO MARCO xxxvn 



escape. There are several of them in the 

 wall, and as they are just the size of the sand- 

 martins' nest -holes, the birds selected the 

 place as one suitable and ready made for their 

 purpose. 



Lots of these sand-martins collect with the 

 other swallows over the river, in September, 

 prior to leaving. We always have plenty of 

 swifts here. I picked up a dead one once 

 and measured its wings spread out. It was 

 eighteen inches; it seems an enormous width. 



In a very pretty little book called A Year 

 with the Birds, written by an Oxford tutor, 

 I found a note as to the hovering of the king- 

 fisher, which seems to have some bearing on 

 the evolutions of this bird, which I described 

 in a former letter to you. The author says : 

 " I have seen a kingfisher hovering like a 

 dragon-fly or humming-bird over a little sap- 

 ling almost underneath the bridge by which 

 you enter Addison's Walk. Possibly it was 

 about to strike a fish, but unluckily it saw me 

 and vanished. The sight was one of mar- 



