166 THE BIKDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



summer of 1864. The nest was built of the usual 

 materials, but was placed on the top batten of a door in 

 the wall of the gardens at Rufford Abbey, the batten 

 being very broad, and extending to within a few inches 

 of the top of the door. The nest was not only attached 

 firmly to the door, but also to the lintel, and when first 

 discovered had to be cut away from the latter in order 

 that the door might be opened. This, however, did not 

 divert the intentions of the parent birds : the eggs were 

 duly laid and duly hatched; and when I saw it the 

 young birds were nearly ready for flight. The door was 

 in constant use, being opened thirty or forty times a 

 day ; but this frequent and sometimes sudden motion 

 seemed in no way to alarm either old or young, the 

 latter suffering me to touch them. 



The martin, like the swallow, is fond of frequenting 

 the ruts and gutters of roads for the purpose of picking 

 up the mud with which it builds, which, it is very 

 evident, is rendered more retentive by being tempered 

 with the saliva of the bird. In some districts, where the 

 soil is a strong clay, as it is a few miles from Ollerton, 

 little tempering may be needed ; but in our own neigh- 

 bourhood, where the soil is very light and sandy, more 

 preparation of the kind would, we should think, be 

 . necessary ; yet with materials so different the nests they 

 build with us are not less strong than those they erect 

 in the clay villages. 



A house opposite my own has been resorted to year 

 by year as long as I can remember. There, under the 

 eaves of the tiled roof, five or six nests were always 

 placed. Sometimes, on account of the annoyance occa- 

 sioned by their excrement, the occupant of the house 

 caused those to be broken down which were directly 



