THE MARTIN. 67 



white, and about three-quarters of an inch in length. 

 Incubation occupies about a fortnight; when hatched 

 the young birds are most assiduously fed by their parents, 

 and the quantity of flies and other winged insects captured 

 by the old birds during this period is indeed marvellous. 

 At first the parents enter the nest to feed their offspring, 

 but very shortly the young family learn to expect the 

 return of their guardians with food, and may be seen 

 protruding their little heads through the aperture of the 

 nest in the most unmistakably eager and expectant 

 manner. At such times the Martin clings to the rough 

 surface of the nest, supporting its body with its claws 

 while distributing nourishment to the hungry inmates. 



The Martin usually rears two broods in the season, the 

 hen commencing to lay again as soon as the first brood 

 are fledged and able to provide for themselves. 



The length of the Martin is five inches and a quarter. 

 The beak is very short and black ; irides, brown ; the 

 top of the head, ear-coverts, back of the neck, wing- 

 coverts, and back are of a rich glossy bluish-black ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts white. The tail is forked, and the 

 feathers, like those of the wing, are dull black ; the wings 

 reach to the end of the forked feathers of the tail. The 

 chin and all the under surface of the body is white ; the 

 legs and toes are small and covered with short, fine, downy- 

 white feathers ; claws are of a greyish colour, curved and 

 sharp. The sexes resemble each other, but the females and 

 the young birds are not so pure in colour, and the white 

 of the chin and throat are of a dirty greyish-white. Oc- 

 casionally white varieties are met with. 



Like all the members of the Hirundince, the Martin 

 subsists exclusively upon insects, which it procures whilst 



