BY LAKES AND STREAMS. 135 



railway cuttings, quarries, and sand-pits. The 

 Sand Martin is the first Swallow to arrive, 

 usually making its appearance in Yorkshire by 

 the middle of April, and the old haunts are 

 frequented season after season. Nesting duties 

 begin in May. Each pair has its burrow in the 

 sandy cliff, which is made by the birds themselves 

 scratching out the loose soil for a depth of two or 

 three feet. At the end of this gallery a slight 

 nest of dry grass and feathers is loosely and 

 carelessly arranged, in which the four or five 

 pure white eggs are laid. The scene at a Sand 

 Martin colony is busy and animated in the ex- 

 treme. All day long the little brown birds are 

 fluttering to and fro, entering and leaving their 

 nests, burrowing their tunnels, or feeding their 

 young. Insects are their only food. 



Two other birds of the fresh waters may here 

 be aptly noticed. First of these is the MOORHEN widely 

 (Gallinula chloropus). Provided there is but a di: 

 small amount of seclusion and privacy, the Moor- 

 hen or Waterhen is almost sure to be met witL 

 It is not a very fastidious bird, and will take up 

 its residence even on the pools of stagnant water 

 below railway embankments, on weed-grown fish- 

 ponds, on mill-dams, and on rivers wherever 

 there are still flowing reaches and quiet corners. 

 Its dark greenish brown upper plumage, white 

 longest under tail-coverts, white striped flanks, 

 and crimson forehead are marks of distinction 

 easily noted by the most superficial glance. The 

 Moorhen is as much at home in the water as on 

 the land. It swims and dives with ease ; walks 

 and runs well ; and hops about the branches and 

 perches in them as skilfully as the true perching 



