THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS 61 



the sparrow and the starling, the martin is a sociable 

 bird, and loves to dwell near the haunts of men. 

 Not infrequently I have seen at old farmhouses 

 whole colonies breeding side by side, the nests some- 

 times touching each other. Like swallows, martins 

 drink whilst flying, and both birds have been seen 

 to rest on the water, and then rise again on the 

 wing. The suddenness with which both species 

 leave us in autumn may be accounted for by the 

 equally sudden disappearance of some insect which 

 for a time had constituted their staple food supply. 

 Last spring, through a short spell of intensely cold 

 weather, accompanied by snowstorms, the hirundines 

 died by hundreds, dropping benumbed and helpless 

 from the houses, towers and country churches. 

 This was probably owing to two causes: the total 

 disappearance of all insect life, and the sudden 

 change from genial May to the bleak blasts of winter. 

 The sand-martin is the first to come to us, and is 

 the least of the swallows. In the majority of cases 

 it is this bird which is the subject of the " Early 

 Swallow " paragraphs of provincial newspapers. 

 Sand-martins associate in colonies, and build in 

 holes, which they drill in sand-pit, quarry or river- 

 bank. The birds, in every conceivable attitude, 

 use their bills as drills, and throw out the soil with 

 their feet. The hole ramifies into the sand, from 

 about eighteen inches to as much as five feet. The 



