306 BRITISH BIRDS. 



however, under the eaves of houses,* or close by 

 the window. The nest is made of mud and straw 

 on the outside, and lined with feathers; the first 

 hatch consists of five eggs, which are white, in- 

 clining to dusky at the thicker end; the second 

 of three or four; and the third of only two or 

 three. While the young birds are confined to 

 the nest, the parents feed them, adhering by the 

 claws to the outside; but as soon as they are 

 able to fly, they receive their nourishment on 

 the wing, by a motion quick and almost imper- 

 ceptible to those who are not accustomed to ob- 

 serve it. 



The Martin arrives somewhat later than the 

 Swallow, and does not leave us so soon; they 

 have been observed in the neighbourhood of Lon- 

 don so late as the middle of October. White, 

 in his Natural History of Selborne, has made 

 some judicious remarks on these birds, with a 

 view to illustrate the time and manner of their 

 migrations, to which we beg leave to refer. 



* The following passage of our "sweet Shakespeare," descriptive 

 of its haunts, has always been admired as conveying a perfect idea 

 of amenity of situation : 



" The guest of summer, 



The temple-haunting martlet, does approve 

 By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze, buttress, 

 Nor coigne of vantage, but this bird hath made 

 His pendent bed, and procreant cradle: Where they 

 Most breed and haunt, I have observed, the air 

 Is delicate." 



