HISTORY OF THE MARTIN. 167 



LETTER XX. To THE HON. DAINES HARRINGTON. 



DEAR SIR, Selborne, February 26, 1774. 



THE sand-martin, or bank-martin,fis by much the least of any 

 of the British hirundines ; and, as far as we have ever seen, the 

 smallest known hirundo : though Brisson asserts that there is 

 one much smaller, and that is the hirundo esculenta.* 



But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce possible for 

 any observer to be so full and exact as he could wish in reciting 

 the circumstances attending the life and conversation of this little 

 bird, since it is / era naturd, at least in this part of the kingdom, 

 disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunting wild heaths 

 and commons where there are large lakes ; while the other spe- 

 cies, especially the swallow and house-martin, are remarkably 

 gentle and domesticated, and never seem to think themselves safe 

 but under the protection of man.f 



Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the lakes 

 of Wolmer-forest, several colonies of these birds ; and yet they 

 are never seen in the village ; nor do they at all frequent the cot- 

 tages that are scattered about in that wild district. The only in- 

 stance I ever remember where this species haunts any building is 

 at the town of Bishop's Waltham, in this county, where many 

 sand-martins nestle and breed in the scaffold-holes of the back- 

 wall of William of Wykeham's stables : but then this wall stands 

 in a very sequestered and retired enclosure, and faces upon a 

 large and beautiful lake. And indeed this species seems so to 

 delight in large waters, that no instance occurs of their abound- 

 ing, but near vast pools or rivers : and in particular it has been 

 remarked that they swarm in the banks of the Thames in some 

 places below London-bridge. J 



* There are several exotic species smaller than either. ED. 



f The bank-swallow frequents villages and neighbourhoods quite as familiarly as the other 

 species, where tliere are contiguous high banks or pits at all congenial to its habits, as in various 

 places I have had many opportunities of witnessing. ED. 



J Perhaps, generally speaking, this species keeps more to the immediate vicinity of water than 

 the others, but it sometimes plays far and wide over the champaign country. Over the small 

 river Wandle, in Surrey, I have occasionally seen them in such multitudes as almost to confuse 

 the sight, whilst the constant snapping of their bills, as they seized the small gnats and other 

 minute insects, maintained an almost continuous crackling sound. On these occasions, they 

 often whisk by almost within arm's reach, so that it can be easily noticed that the common 

 opinion of swallows flying with the bill open is erroneous. And it is beautiful to observe how 

 "admirably each preservts its own course, when vacillating and sailing in such close multitudes, 

 darting by in every possible direction, yet each keeping itself quite clear of all the rest. ED. 



