MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



the lighter parts of the plumage, which may 

 specially be observed as they turn flashing 

 for a moment in bright April sunshine. 

 The sand-martins, again, the engineers of 

 their race, have excavated their long tun- 

 nelled nests in the crumbling yellow cliff 

 that flanks the cutting on the high road 

 opposite ; I love to see them fly in with 

 unerring aim at the narrow mouth as they 

 return all agog from their aerial hunting 

 expeditions on cool summer evenings. They 

 are the smallest and dingiest of our swal- 

 lows ; they have no sheeny blue-black 

 plumage like their handsome cousins, but 

 are pale brown above, and dirty white below. 

 The house-martin, last of all, can be recog- 

 nized at once upon the wing by his conspicuous 

 belt of pure white plumage, almost dazzling 

 in its brilliancy, which stretches in a band 

 across the lower half of his back ; as he 

 pirouettes on the wing, -this badge of his 

 kind gleams for a moment against the sky, 

 and then fades as if by magic. His shorter 



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