158 SAND-MARTENS. 



But it is much to be regretted, that it is scarce possible for 

 any observer to be so full and exact as he could wish, in 

 reciting the circumstances attending the life and conversation 

 of this little bird, since it \sfera naturd, at least in this part of 

 the kingdom, disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunt- 

 ing wild heaths and commons where there are large lakes ; 

 while the other species, especially the swallow and house- 

 marten, are remarkably gentle and domesticated, and never 

 seem to think themselves safe but under the protection of man.* 



Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the 

 lake of Wolmer Forest, several colonies of these birds ; and 

 yet they are never seen in the village, nor do they at all 

 frequent the cottages that are scattered about in that wild 

 district. The only instance I ever remember where this species 

 haunts any building, is at the town of Bishop's Waltham, in 

 this county, where many sand-martens nestle and breed in the 

 scaffold holes of the back wall of William of Wykeham's 

 stables ; but then this wall stands in a very sequestered and 

 retired enclosure, and faces upon a large and beautiful lake. 



shaped like the nest of a window-swallow. If these are perfect, seventy- 

 two of them will go to a catty, or one pound and three quarters. They 

 bring a very high price in China. They are composed of a substance 

 resembling amber, and probably the gum of the Nicobar cedar, which 

 grows abundantly in all the islands. From December to May, it is 

 covered with blossoms, and bears a fruit somewhat resembling a cedar 

 or pine apple, but more like a large berry full of pustules, discharging 

 a gum or resinous fluid. The hen constructs a neat, large nest, for 

 laying and hatching her eggs, and the cock contrives to fix another 

 smaller, and rather more clumsy, close to his mate ; for they are not only 

 built for the purpose of incubation, but also for resting places. If they 

 are robbed of them, they immediately fall to work to build others, ana 1 

 being remarkably active, are able in a day to finish enough to support the 

 weight of their bodies, although they take about three weeks to com- 

 plete a nest. During the north-east trade-wind, they are all alive, and 

 fly about briskly ; but as soon as the wind comes round to the south- 

 west, they sit or lie in their nests, in a state of stupor, and shew anima- 

 tion only by a kind of tremulous motion over their whole body. If the 

 nests were taken away at this season, the poor birds must inevitably 



perish ED. 



* If the sand-martens of Selborne were solitary, as Mr White states, they 

 have been different from all others we have heard of or seen. In many 

 situations the excavations are so near each other, that the entrance to 

 one of their holes is frequently close to that of the other. Professor 

 Rennie tells us that he has noticed them not three inches apart, and the 

 whole face of a bank thickly studded over with them. We have seen 

 them in an indurated sandbank, on the side of a stream called the 

 Lothrie, near Leslie, in Fife, very numerous, and not above fifteen inches 

 from each other. ED. 



