264 HIRUNDINIM. 



those of the House Martin, but smaller, measuring only 

 eight lines in length, by six lines in breadth. The Sand 

 Martins are sociable birds, building in company close to 

 each other ; and in some favourable localities the external 

 apertures to their retreats, which are all that can be seen 

 of their domicile, are very numerous, so much so, that 

 the surface of the bank appears perforated like a honey- 

 comb. " The nestlings," says White, " are supported, in 

 common like those of their congeners, with gnats, and 

 other small insects ; and sometimes they are fed with 

 Libellulce (dragon-flies) almost as long as themselves. In 

 the last week in June we have seen a row of these sitting 

 on a rail near a pool as perchers ; and so young and help- 

 less, as easily to be taken by hand ; but whether the dams 

 ever feed them on the wing, as Swallows and House 

 Martins do, we have never yet been able to determine." 

 When on the wing in search of food, they skim low over 

 meadows and commons; they also drink, sip, and wash 

 as they fly, sometimes, as the House Martin and the 

 Swallow. The young, when they have entirely left the 

 nest to make room for the second brood, roost in numbers 

 among the osiers which grow on the small islands, and on 

 the banks of rivers. " The Sand Martin, I believe," says 

 Mr. Blackwall, "has never been suspected of forsaking its 

 progeny ; yet that it sometimes does abandon them I have 

 clearly ascertained, by repeated inspections of the nests of 

 that species during the winter months." 



The Sand Martin is generally, but locally, distributed 

 over the British Islands. Mr. Thompson of Belfast says 

 it is a regular summer visitor to Ireland, but is not so 

 numerous as the Swallow or the House Martin. It visits 

 also the Orkneys and Shetland. Miiller includes it as a 

 bird of Denmark. M. Nilsson says it visits Sweden, and 

 Mr. Hewitson saw it in Norway. It is found in summer 



