248 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



chimney of the house, it utters a confused song, now 

 low, now shrill, and like the baffling sounds of the 

 ventriloquist apparently coming from any point but the 

 right one. How statelily the old pair that nest in the 

 gable end of the house, pace up and down the fresh 

 mown grass-plot with no little runs, or hasty actions, 

 like the thrush and blackbird, but each foot firmly 

 placed ; and as with rapid movements of the head and 

 beak, they pick the insect atoms from the turf, the 

 sun glistens on their shiny plumes, whose rich metallic 

 tints show mingled shades of green and purple. In the 

 choice of localities for nesting purposes no little nook 

 about our homes escapes them. An open space beneath 

 the tiles or slates, the cap of the water pipe, if the 

 wood work is broken, some chance aperture in the eaves 

 or gable, are all made available for their young broods, 

 and none but the pert sparrow, who sometimes pays 

 dear for his impudence, attempts to disturb them. 

 Apart from our dwellings, the ivied wall, the hollow 

 tree, the church tower with its many openings, or 

 venerable ruins, rich in the accommodation afforded by 

 the crumbling stonework, have all attractions for these 

 social birds, and though our sandy cliffs are unsuited to 

 their purpose, they nest in large numbers in that re- 

 markable chalk formation, which crops out by itself on 

 the Hunstanton beach. Here they may be seen, in 

 summer, constantly passing in and out of the various 

 fissures, where, far out of reach even of the most 

 venturous climber, they rear their young in the dark 

 recesses, and the whole cliff resounds with the cries of 

 the nestlings, awaiting the return of their respective 

 parents. In the more yielding surface of the brown 

 Carstone which adjoins the chalk, they either perforate 

 their own nest-holes, or enlarge for their use the pre- 

 vious borings of the little sand-martins; whilst here 

 and there, projecting straws and feathers show where 



