SAND-MARTIN. 187 



I have never heard the Sand-Martin sing, but it is said to twitter occa- 

 sionally. Its call-note is a loud and harsh cry, almost a faint scream. 

 Naumann represents it by the word share ; but the consonants, to my ears, 

 are imaginary. 



The food of the Sand-Martin is composed entirely of insects, chiefly the 

 smaller ones, such as gnats, which fly most abundantly over water. Gilbert 

 White, however, states that the young are sometimes fed on large dragon- 

 flies. The inside of the mouth of the Sand-Martin is full of a viscid saliva, 

 which aids it in capturing its prey, the little flies sticking to it as the bird 

 courses through the air. 



As soon as the young of the first broods can take care of themselves 

 they unite into large flocks, and flit all day long over the fields and waters, 

 feasting upon the boundless store of insect food. These young birds 

 probably never visit the nest again, and roost at night in reed-beds, 

 marshy plantations, and other suitable places ; they are the earliest birds 

 astir in the morning, and almost the last to retire to roost at night. After 

 the young have flown, they and their parents often desert the sand-banks 

 altogether, and wander about in search of the best localities for food; 

 they gather in immense flocks, skimming over the large rivers and lakes, 

 or sometimes perching on the telegraph-wires. Stevenson gives some 

 interesting particulars of these autumn flights of Sand-Martins, which 

 roost like Starlings in the reed-beds. 



The Sand-Martin is a very sombre-coloured little bird. The general 

 colour of the upper parts and a broad band across the chest are an almost 

 uniform mouse-brown, very slightly darker on the head and somewhat 

 paler on the rump. The wings and the somewhat forked tail are blackish 

 brown ; the underparts generally, except the chest-band already alluded 

 to, are dull white. Bill black ; legs, toes, and claws dark brown ; irides 

 hazel; at the back of the tarsus are a few feathers. The female does 

 not differ from the male in colour, nor is there any seasonal change of 

 importance. Young in first plumage resemble the adults, but have most 

 of the feathers of the upper parts, especially the wing-coverts, the inner- 

 most secondaries, the feathers of the rump, and the upper tail-coverts 

 tipped with pale buff, and the chin and throat are suffused with buff; but 

 in many examples this buff fades into almost white, even before the birds 

 leave this country. This species is easily distinguished from the House- 

 Martin by its bare feet, and both from this bird and the Swallow by its 

 dingy-brown plumage. 



It has been said that examples from Siberia and Arctic Europe are 

 somewhat darker above and whiter below than our birds. This idea has 

 probably arisen from the excessive cleanness of the underparts of birds 

 living in very thinly populated districts where no coal is burnt. 



