32 STRANGE DWELLINGS, 



CHAPTER II. 



BURROWING BIRDS. 



The Sand Martin — Mode of burrowing and shape of the tunnel — Enemies 

 of the Sand Martin — Midges and Martins — The Kingfisher and its 

 habits — Its burrow and peculiar nest — Number of the eggs — The Puffin a 

 feathered usurper — The Feroe Islands and the Puffins — Pro aris et focis — 

 The Jackdaw, Stockdove, and Sheldrake— Nest of the Sheldrake— 

 The Stormy Petrel— Its mode of nesting and shallow tunnels— mode of 

 feeding its young — Evil odour of its burrow — The Woodpecker — Its uses 

 and misunderstood character — Method of burrowing — The Fungus and the 

 Woodpecker. 



We now take leave of the furred borrowers, and proceed to 

 those which wear feathers instead of hair. 



One of the best examples of Bird Burrowers is the well- 

 known Sand Martin {Cotile riparid)^ so plentiful in this 

 countr}'. The powers of this pretty little bird seem to be 

 quite inadequate to the arduous labours which it performs so 

 easily, and few would suppose, after contemplating its tiny bill, 

 that it was capable of boring tunnels into tolerably hard sand- 

 stone. Such, however, is the case, for the Sand Martin is 

 familiarly knov/n to drive its tunnels into sandstone that is hard 

 enough to destroy all the edge of a knife. 



The bird does not prefer a laborious to an easy task, and if 

 it can find a spot where the soil is quite loose, and yet where 

 the sides of the burrow will not collapse, it will always take 

 advantage of such a locality. I have frequently seen such 

 instances of judgment, where the birds had selected the sandy 

 intervals between strata of stone, and so saved themselves 

 from any trouble except scraping and throwing out the loose 

 sand. 



When, however, the Sand Martin is unable to find such a 

 situation, it sets to work in a very systematic fashion, trying 



