of Selborne 155 



as they fly sometimes, like the house-martin and 

 swallow. 



Sand-martins differ from their congeners in the diminii- 

 tiveness of their size, and in their colour, which is what 

 is usually called a mouse-colour. Near Valencia in Spnin, 

 they are taken, says Willughby, and sold in the markets 

 for the table ; and are called by the country people, pro- 

 bably from their desultory jerking manner of flight, 

 papilion di mo?i/ag7ia. 



LETTER XXI 



TO THE HONOURABLE DAINES BARRINGTON 



Selborne, Sept. 28, 1774. 



Dear Sir, 



As the swift or black-martin is the largest of the British 

 hirtaidhies, so is it undoubtedly the latest comer. For I 

 remember but one instance of its appearing before the 

 last week in April : and in some of our late frosty, harsh 

 springs, it has not been seen till the beginning of May. 

 This species usually arrives in pairs. 



The swift, like the sand-martin, is very defective in 

 architecture, making no crust, or shell, for its nest ; but 

 forming it of dry grasses and feathers, very rudely and 

 inartificially put together. With all my attention to 

 these birds, I have never been able once to discover one 

 in the act of collecting or carrying in materials : so that 

 I have suspected (since their nests are exactly the same) 

 that they sometimes usurp upon the house-sparrows, and 

 expel them, as sparrows do the house and sand-martin ; 

 well remembering that I have seen them squabbling 

 together at the entrance of their holes ; and the sparrows 

 up in arms, and much disconcerted at these intruders. 

 And yet I am assured, by a nice observer in such mat- 

 ters, that they do collect feathers for their nests in 

 Andalusia ; and that he has shot them with such 

 materials in their mouths. 



Swifts, like sand-martins, carry on the business of 



