OF SELBORNE. 269 



and securely fixing crusts or shells of loam as cunabula 

 for their young, the bank martin terebrates a round and 

 regular hole in the sand or earth, which is serpentine, 

 horizontal, and about two feet deep. At the inner end 

 of this burrow does this bird deposit, in a good degree 

 of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine grasses and 

 feathers, usually goose feathers, very inartificially laid 

 together. 



SAND MARTIN'S NEST. 



Perseverance will accomplish any thing: though at 

 first one would be disinclined to believe that this weak 

 bird, with her soft and tender bill and claws, should 

 ever be able to bore the stubborn sand bank without 

 entirely disabling herself; yet with these feeble instru- 

 ments have I seen a pair of them make great dispatch : 

 and could remark how much they had scooped that day 

 by the fresh sand which ran down the bank, and was of 

 a different colour from that which lay loose and bleached 

 in the sun. 



In what space of time these little artists are able to 

 mine and finish these cavities I have never been able to 

 discover, for reasons given above; but it would be a 

 matter worthy of observation, where it falls in the way 

 of any naturalist to make his remarks. This I have 

 often taken notice of, that several holes of different 

 depths are left unfinished at the end of summer. To 



