i 3 4 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



chase their insect prey to and fro round the 

 banks. There is something specially interesting 

 about these birds at the waterside during the 

 late autumn days. Many of these rivers and 

 pools are chosen gathering-places, sanctioned by 

 custom, where for years uncounted these little 

 fleet-winged hosts have been wont to congregate 

 and spend the last few days of their residence 

 with us ere speeding south. The air is thronged 

 with happy fluttering birds, coursing through the 

 air in all directions high up towards the clouds 

 and low down just above the water's surface ; in 

 mid-air or like specks against the distant blue. 

 Here, there, and everywhere, Swallows and 

 Martins mixed indiscriminately together ; but 

 the latter species generally preponderating. All 

 are waiting for the hour of departure ; the old 

 birds as eager now to leave us and approaching 

 winter behind them, as they were to reach our 

 country in the spring ; the young, perhaps, filled 

 with wondering curiosity at the unusual gathering, 

 widely The most aquatic of the Swallows is the SAND 



M ARTIN (Cotile riparia), distinguished from the 

 rest of its kindred by its brown and sombre 

 upper plumage. It therefore deserves a more 

 detailed notice in the present chapter, but the 

 other species we have already dealt with else- 

 where (see pp. 17, 1 8). The Sand Martin, as its 

 name implies, is a bird of the sand, making its 

 nest in earth cliffs ; and wherever a suitable bank 

 is to be found near the waterside a colony of 

 these interesting little creatures will almost in- 

 variably be met with. Not that they always 

 establish their colony by the waterside, for many 

 favoured places are far from the pool, notably in 



