292 SWALLOWS AND MARTINS 



under the eaves of houses. A projecting ledge of rock and a project- 

 ing edge of a house are to a martin the same thing. (Nest Plate xxxi.) 



Neither species permits itself to be rigidly bound by rule in its 

 choice of a nesting site. The swallow will occasionally build under 

 eaves, its nest then resembling the martin's, except that it is more 

 open at the top. It will also build in a tree. A drawing given by 

 Yarrell shows an open nest placed in the fork of a bough. 1 Another 

 was found placed on a small branch scarcely more than an inch thick. 

 It had no supporting twigs, but overlapped the bough on one side. 2 

 These sites are commonplace compared to some that are chosen. 

 One pair, for instance, built in the circular spring of a bell placed 

 just over a doorway, and there remained, deaf to the frequent clang- 

 ing. 3 Another attached a solid round structure, made of the usual 

 mixture of mud and straw, to one side of the top of a circular glass 

 ceiling protector suspended over a gas burner. In this two broods 

 were reared, in spite of the fact that the young, when nearly fledged, 

 were frequently in imminent danger of being swung out of their home 

 at moments of gastronomic exaltation. 4 Many similar curious sites 

 have been recorded. The house-martin, on its part, is prepared at 

 times to build inside buildings and also in caves. 5 In some localities, 

 as in the Dee district of Aberdeenshire, it has in fact deserted 

 villages and hamlets for dark, damp caverns on the coast, where the 

 young are reared in almost total darkness, the change being probably 

 due to persecution by sparrows. 6 



As the swallow is properly a builder in caves, it is content with 

 an open nest. This generally has the shape of a half saucer, and is 

 attached, bracket-like, to a wall, usually with, but sometimes without, 



1 History of Bird*, ii. 848. 



* Field, 1885, vol. Ixvi. p. 359. See Ibid., p. 391, for a nest built "on a spray of jasmine . . . 

 quite a foot away from the wall, and anchored to some sprays of Japanese honeysuckle." Also 

 Mitchell, Birds of Lancashire, for another instance. 



s Warde Fowler, A Year ivith the Birds, 1886, p. 43. 

 4 British Birds, i. 355. 



* See the " Classified Notes." Also Naumann, Vogel Mitteleitropas, iv. 207 (footnote) ; 

 Forrest, Fauna of N. Wales, p. 130; Gray, Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 207. 



* Sim, Fauna of Dee. 



