334 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



the young approach the time for their first flight, we 

 see their little white faces at the opening of the nest, 

 watching the return of the old birds, who now feed 

 them from the outside, and, as they hover up and cling 

 for an instant with outspread tails, low murmuring 

 notes announce a mutual pleasure ; and, even when not 

 actually seeking food, the parents will pause again and 

 again in their rapid circlings, and on quivering wings 

 twitter for an instant to the tiny occupants of their little 

 nursery. As a rule the house-martins are so amiable a 

 race, aiding one another against their common foes, and 

 taking evidently a friendly interest in their neighbours 

 affairs, that the following instance of a downright 

 quarrel amongst them is worth recording. On the 

 12th of June, 1865, my attention was attracted to 

 the martins that build against the side of my house 

 by their agitated flight and cries, and the fact of 

 several of them visiting one particular nest. On 

 watching their movements, I found the real proprietors 

 were fighting for their home, and two others evidently 

 as much bent upon ejecting them. First one would fly 

 into the nest, then another, then a third would 

 work its way through the entrance and a regular 

 struggle succeeded inside; portions of clay rattling 

 down, whilst wings and tails alternately projected from 

 the little aperture. In a second or two, one would come 

 out, then two, fighting with their claws apparently 

 interlaced, till they thus fell occasionally to within a 

 yard of the ground before quitting hold. Then a chase 

 ensued, and all four, wheeling round, returned again to 

 the attack and defence. Sometimes one pair seemingly 

 gained possession first, sometimes the other, but each 

 " round" invariably ended with two, probably the males, 

 clinging to each other, as they tumbled from the nest, 

 with now and then two others also "binding" to them, till 

 the whole struggling feathered mass would come nearly 



