BOTTLE NESTS 



martins build year by year in the corners of the windows. 

 But, as the corners of these windows (which face to the 

 south-east and south-west) are too shallow, the nests are 

 washed down every hard rain ; and yet these birds drudge on 

 to no purpose from summer to summer, without changing 

 their aspect or house. It is a piteous sight to see them 

 labouring when half their nest is washed away and bringing 

 dirt . . . 'generis lapsi sarcire ruinas?" In spite of the 

 difficulties they have to overcome, the martins usually con- 

 trive to raise two broods in the course of a summer, and 

 sometimes even a third, though offspring born late in the 

 season not uncommonly perish in the nest, for the reason 

 probably that the parents are unable to provide them with 

 sufficient food owing to the increasing scarcity of insects. 



In Australia our house martin is represented by the 

 dainty Ariel Swallow, or Fairy Martin (Hirundo ariel), a 

 little bird about three and a half inches in length. Its nests 

 are frequently crowded together under eaves of houses, 

 or some other shelter, such as that afforded by an overhang- 

 ing rock. 



Gould says: "Hundreds of this species were breeding 

 under the verandahs and corners of the windows, precisely 

 after the manner of the common martin. . . . The nest, 

 which is bottle-shaped with a long neck, is composed of mud 

 or clay, and, like that of our common martin, is only con- 

 structed in the morning and evening, unless the day be wet 

 or lowering. While building these nests they appear to 

 work in small companies, six or seven assisting in the forma- 

 tion of each, one of them remaining within and receiving the 

 mud brought by the others in their mouths. In shape the 

 nests are nearly round, but vary in size from four to six 

 inches in diameter, the spouts being eight, nine, or ten 

 in length; when built on the sides of rocks, or in the 



156 



