PERCHING BIRDS. 169 



m 



for, wishing to satisfy myself on several points of their 

 economy, I took the opportunity of the nests being 

 within easy reach to examine them. All the empty 

 ones, with the exception of one, swarmed with fleas, and 

 I have no doubt had been forsaken from that cause. 



This little swallow generally arrives from a week to a 

 fortnight before either of the others ; in some instances I 

 have known it make its first appearance in March, quite 

 regardless of the bleak cold winds. It is not, with us 

 at least, seen much in the neighbourhood of houses, but 

 prefers to seek its food over the meadows, and especially 

 over water ; the stream that flows through the outskirts 

 of the village is always frequented, while I have rarely, 

 seen them in the street. 



The flight of the sand martin, though rapid, is much 

 less powerful than that of either the swallow or the 

 martin, and I rarely remember to have seen it at those 

 great altitudes attained by the latter in fine weather ; it 

 appears to prefer skimming just above the surface of 

 either stream or meadow. 



It is a pretty sight to watch a sandbank where their 

 nests are abundant at the time they have young ones. 

 Both parents take their part in feeding them, and dur- 

 ing the greater part of the day it is seldom that many 

 seconds elapse without one or other of them arriving 

 with a supply. They are notwithstanding very discur- 

 sive, and I have seen them constantly hawking for 

 flies between two and three miles from their nearest 

 nests. 



The Swift (Cypselus apus\ though found in all parts 

 of England, is very variable in regard to the numbers 

 frequenting any particular locality. In some I know, 

 two or three pairs are the most I have seen, while in 



