Periodical Birds. 281 



THE HOUSE MARTIN (Hirundo riparia), ii., 79. 



Common and familiar, and, like the swallow, always 

 welcome. This odd bird often takes for the founda- 

 tion of its nest one constructed the previous year by 

 the swallow. The swallow's nest is open at the top. 

 The house-martin likes to have a roof or lid, so goes 

 on with the one it adopts till finished to its own 

 fancy, keeping only an aperture for ingress 



THE SAND MARTIN (Hirundo urbica), ii., 78. 



Comes in spring from North Africa and Malta, then 

 common everywhere in sand-banks, in which it 

 excavates horizontal galleries. It never alights on 

 the ground, but gathers the blades of green grass 

 used for the nest while on the wing, and in the same 

 way collects the feathers for lining it. 



THE DOTTEREL (Charadrius morinellus), iv., 187. 

 This bird visits us in the beginning of May, arriving 

 in large flocks. It is very tame, silly, and easily 

 approached. If a fowler once gets among them, he 

 may shoot the whole before they take alarm. It 

 remains only for three or four days or a week, and 

 then moves on to its breeding stations among the 

 mountains in the north. (On the Lancashire 

 localities, see Manchester Guardian, Feb. 25, 1882.) 



THE SPOTTED FLY-CATCHER (Musdcapa grisola), i., 44. 



Common, making its appearance in the middle of 



May, building in gardens and woods, and generally 



choosing very odd situations for the nest. Remark- 



