HOUSE-MARTIN. 153 



of this little domestic and familiar bird should happen to meet 

 with your approbation, I may probably soon extend my enquiries 

 to the rest of the British hirundines the swallow, the swift, and 

 the bank-martin. 



A few house-martins begin to appear about the sixteenth of 

 April ; usually some few days later than the swallow. For some 

 time after they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention 

 to the business of nidification, but play and sport about either to 

 recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, 

 or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture 

 after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of winter. 

 About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin 

 begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family- 

 The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt 

 or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and 

 wrought together with little bits of broken straws, to render it 

 tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a per- 

 pendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires 

 its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that 

 it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the 

 bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by 

 strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a ful- 

 crum ; and thus steadied it works and plasters the materials into 

 the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this work may 

 not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, 

 the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough 

 not to advance her work too fast ; but by building only in the 

 morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and 

 amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About 

 half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful 

 workmen when they build mud-walls (informed at first perhaps 

 by this little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then 

 desist ; lest the work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined 

 by its own weight. By this method in about ten or twelve days 

 is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards the 

 top, strong, compact, and warm ; and perfectly fitted for all the 

 purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more 

 common than for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell is 

 finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the owner, and to 

 line it after its own manner.* 



* Upon which occurrence, instances have been known, and attested on the most unexception- 



