HIRUNDINIDJE. 289 



upper surface of the body, wings and tail nearlj 

 uniform hair-brown ; chin, throat, breast and belly 

 white ; a band across the upper part of the breast, 

 the thighs, vent and under tail-coverts hair-brown ; 

 feathers on the legs brown; toes orange-brown; 

 claws dark brown." 



The eggs are white, and elongated, like those of 

 the Common Swift. 



This is the last of the Hirundinidse I can claim 

 for Somersetshire. Either collectively or individu- 

 ally no one has a word to say against any of the 

 family : they eat neither fruit, grain nor buds, but 

 do an unlimited amount of good by the destruction 

 of flies and gnats, in search of which they are most 

 indefatigable. Though not liable to attacks from 

 man on the supposition that they do him mischief, 

 I am sorry to say shooting these birds is considered 

 an amusement, not only by school-boys who manage 

 to borrow a gun on a holiday, but by grown-up men. 

 They are extremely susceptible of changes in the 

 weather, and a succession of cold, wet, windy weather 

 kills many of them. The Martins seem to be the 

 most susceptible ; for instance, after some cold 

 rough weather in the middle of August, this year 

 (1868), I picked up seven Martins and one Swallow 

 dead : the gizzards of all those I examined were 

 perfectly empty, 



