152 The Natural History 



and yet they are never seen in the village ; nor do they 

 at all frequent the cottages that are scattered about in 

 that wild district. The only instance 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 abounding, 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. 



It is curious to observe with what different degrees of 

 architectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the 

 same genus, and so nearly correspondent in their general 

 mode of life ! for while the swallow and the house-martin 

 discover the greatest address in raising and securely fix 

 ing crusts or shells of loam as cu?iabula 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. 



Perseverance will accomplish anything : 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 dis- 

 abling herself; yet with these feeble instruments 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 



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