THE HOUSE MARTIN 



CHELIDON URBICA 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A common and widely 

 distributed summer visitor of almost universal occurrence. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The House Martin seems ever to have shown a 

 partiality for the Metropolis. In Gilbert White's time 

 the bird nested in the Borough, in Fleet Street, and in the 

 Strand. It has deserted these places now, but within 

 recent years nests have been recorded in St. James's Street, 

 Porchester Place, and Upper Seymour Street, the first- 

 named being well inside the two-mile radius. There are 

 many spots in the central portions of the Metropolitan 

 area where the House Martin breeds every year, and it is 

 generally dispersed over the more rural suburbs, com- 

 monest, of course, in the outlying districts. Small 

 colonies of this Martin may be seen in some of our busy 

 suburban thoroughfares ; at Hadesden, for instance, near 

 the High Street, and on some tall buildings opposite the 

 police station. There are also many scattered nests in 

 the quieter by-streets, and the numbers would un- 

 questionably increase were it not for the molestation of 

 the Sparrows, and the antipathy of householders, who in 

 many cases strip down the mud-built home above their 

 windows. The House Martin may also occasionally be 

 seen hawking over the Thames between bridges, and 

 visits the lakes in the urban parks, the canals, and so forth. 



The House Martin returns to its summer haunts in 

 the south of England about the middle of April, and 

 returns to its winter home in September and October. 

 With regard to its appearance in Greater London, I have 

 invariably remarked that in many localities the birds are 

 not seen at their actual nesting-sites for weeks after they 



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