310 SWALLOWS AND MARTINS 



skull of its victim, tore it up, and ate it voraciously. The other 

 shrikes tried to get a share of the repast, but were driven oft', and, 

 curiously enough, made no attempt to kill a swallow for themselves. 

 Perhaps they were too exhausted to make the effort. Later all were 

 blown off* astern by a stiff " nor'-wester." As the ship was then two 

 hundred miles from the nearest land, it is probable that the only 

 one who succeeded in reaching land was the shrike "that seized 

 the opportunity to fortify the ' inner bird.' " l 



When the migrant hosts have successfully passed over the nets 

 of the spoiler and the waters of the Mediterranean, they have still to 

 find their way to winter quarters, sometimes far away south into the 

 heart of the African continent, and no doubt many more perish from 

 one cause or another. So it comes to pass that thousands start that 

 never reach their journey's end, and of those that do, many are 

 doomed to die on the homeward way in the spring. Those that see 

 again the familiar nest in which they were born are few and far 

 between. 



SAND-MARTIN 

 [F. B. KIRKMAN] 



The sand-martin, while resembling the swallow and house-martin 

 in its shape, may at a glance be distinguished from both by its mouse- 

 brown or dark sandy colour. It is the smallest of the three species, 

 being on the average half an inch shorter than the house-martin, 

 and two and a half shorter than the swallow. In its flight it is more 

 jerky or butterfly-like, and it is less frequently seen gliding through 

 the air on outstretched wings. 



Like its two congeners, the species is a summer migrant. It 

 makes its appearance in thousands on our south coast from March 



1 British Birds, Hi. 187 (H. A. F. Magrath). See the same volume (pp. 36, 69, 99, 133) for 

 important notes on the " Migration of Birds in the Mediterranean," by Commander H. Lynes ; 

 also pp. 220, 255. 



