fUKPLE SWALLOW. Prnyn* pwrpureu. 



are of a deep blackish-brown. The female and young male birds are brown, with a strong 

 blue tinge upon the upper parts of the body, and only a greyish-white below. 



Several examples of the Purple Martin have been taken in Great Britain, and Mr. 

 Yarrell has therefore admitted it into his list of British birds. He is of opinion that 

 as two specimens were shot within a. single week in the same locality, the brood might 

 have been reared in this country. Another specimen was killed near Kingston. 



THE pretty little SAND MARTIN is, in spite of its sober plumage and diminutive form, 

 a very interesting bird, and one which adds much to the liveliness of any spot where it 

 may take up its abode. 



In size it is less than any of the other British Hirundinidse, being less than five inches 

 in total length. The colour of this bird is very simple, the general tint of the entire 

 upper surface of the head and body being a soft brown, relieved from too great uniformity 

 by the sooty-black quill feathers of the wings and tail. The under surface is pure white, 

 with the exception of a band of brown across the upper part of the chest. The young 

 bird possesses a lighter plumage than the adult, owing to the yellowish- white tips of the 

 back, tertiaries, and upper coverts. The beak is dark brown, and the eyes hazel. 



Although its little beak and slender claws would seem at first sight to be utterly 

 inadequate for the performance of miner's work, the Sand Martin is as good a tunnel- 

 driver as the mole or the rat, and can manage to dig a burrow of considerable depth in 

 soil that would severely try the more powerful limbs of the quadrupedal excavators. The 

 soil which it most loves is light sandstone, because the labour which is expended in the 

 tunnelling is very little more than that which would be required for softer soils, and the 

 sides of its burrow are sufficiently firm to escape the likelihood of breaking down. In 

 default of sandstone, this bird will drive its burrow through the bank of a railway-cutting 

 or of a river, even though the soil should be of softer and less-enduring material. It has 

 even been known to make its nest in a belt of soft clay above the basaltic cliffs of the 

 Giant's Causeway. 



The depth of the burrow is extremely varia' le, some tunnels being only eighteen 

 inches or two feet deep, while others run to a length of nearly five feet. During some 

 five years' experience and constant watching of these birds in Derbyshire, I generally 

 found that the hand could reach to the end of the burrows, and remove the eggs, provided 

 that the birds had not been forced to change the direction of the tunnel by the intervention 

 of a stone or a piece of rock too hard for their bills to penetrate. The approach to the 



