SAND-MARTENS. 161 



abound, yet, on the whole, in the south of England at least, is 

 this much the rarest species ; for there are few towns or large 

 villages but what abound with house-martens ; few churches, 

 towers, or steeples, but what are haunted by some swifts ; 

 scarce a hamlet or single cottage chimney that has not its 

 swallow ; while the bank-martens, scattered here and there 

 live a sequestered life among some abrupt sand hills, and in 

 the banks of some few rivers. * 



These birds have a peculiar manner of flying, flitting about 

 with odd jerks and vacillations, not unlike the motions of a 

 butterfly. Doubtless the flight of all hirundines is influenced 

 by, and adapted to, the peculiar sort of insects which furnish 

 their food. Hence it would be worth inquiry to examine 

 what particular genus of insects affords the principal food of 

 each respective species of swallow. 



Notwithstanding what has been advanced above, some few 

 sand-martens, I see, haunt the skirts of London, frequenting 

 the dirty pools in St George's Fields, and about Whitechapel. 

 The question is, where these build, since there are no banks or 

 bold shores in that neighbourhood ? Perhaps they nestle in 

 the scaffold-holes of some old or new deserted building. They 

 dip and wash as they fly sometimes, like the house-marten 

 and swallow. 



* Professor Rennie says, " We can hardly bring ourselves to believe 

 that he meant the same species, or at least that he spoke in this instance 

 from his own observation. A more decidedly social bird we are not 

 acquainted with ; since it not only nestles in numerous colonies, but also 

 hunts for insects in troops of from thirty to fifty, and, as BuiFon correctly 

 remarks, associates freely with other swallows." La Vaillant, Montagu, 

 and Wilson, all agree on this point ; the latter says, it " appears to be 

 the most social of its kind of all our swallows, living together in large 

 communities of sorretimes three or four hundred. Several of their holes," 

 he adds, " are often within a few inches of each other, and extend in 

 various strata along the front of a precipice, sometimes for eighty or a 

 hundred yards. They are particularly fond of the shores of rivers, and 

 in several places along the Ohio and the Kentucky river, they congregate 

 in immense multitudes." Although it may be true, according to the 

 remarks of these naturalists, that the sand-marten has been found in much 

 frequented situations, we do not think that any proof of the inaccu- 

 racy of our author, as the Professor seems desirous of establishing. We 

 have already pointed out, in our note at page 150, on the respectable 

 authority of Dr Richardson, that one of the congeners of this bird, the 

 cliif-swallow, has entirely changed its habits within these very few years ; 

 and this may be the case with the sand-marten also. These birds may 

 have been in Mr White's time much more rare in this country than at 

 present. As far as our own observation goes, we have always noticed 

 this species in remote and rather sequestered situations. ED. 



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