SAND MARTIN. 209 



THE SAND MARTIN. 



HIRUNDO RIP ARIA. 

 Gobhlan-gainbhich. Fallag. 



THIS delicate little swallow is widely distributed throughout 

 Scotland, extending to all the remoter islands. It is a regular 

 summer visitant to Lewis, Harris, and North Uist, breeding in 

 sandbanks on the western side of these islands. It also inhabits 

 South Uist and Barra. but I have not seen it on Benbecula, which 

 probably does not furnish suitable banks for a bird of its mining 

 habits. 



On the mainland I have met with the Sand Martin in almost 

 every parish, and have noticed it taking up its summer quarters 

 in sequestered places in single pairs, and also in large colonies, both 

 in the vicinity of water, and at a considerable distance from it. 

 The birds, in fact, appear to make their burrows wherever suitable 

 landslips or quarried sections occur. If the cliff be extensive and 

 capable of accommodating two or three hundred pairs, the whole 

 surface is burrowed until it frequently happens that four or five 

 tunnels are made within the compass of a single yard; and when 

 such a breeding haunt is fully occupied, the constant bustle and 

 mechanical labours of the birds, especially for the first week after 

 their arrival, become a sight of no ordinary interest. 



This bird is believed to be identical with the Cotyle riparia of 

 American authors. Professor Baird the most recent general 

 writer on the ornithology of that country refers to some slight 

 differences observable in specimens from the Sacramento valley, 

 and also from the Upper Missouri, but at the same time admits 

 that " careful comparisons have hitherto failed to exhibit any 

 tangible difference." "It furnishes," continues that writer, "almost 

 a solitary instance among land birds, of the same species inhabiting 

 both continents permanently, and not as an accidental or occasional 

 visitor on either." 



Wilson, in his account of the species, alludes to the vast social 

 communities that are found in some parts of North America, com- 

 paring the immense multitudes that congregate on the shores of 

 the Ohio to a swarm of bees. He also mentions having " taken 

 notice of the common crow, in parties of four or five, watching at 



