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THE HOUSE MARTIN. 

 (Chelidon urbica.) 



WHILE the Chimney Swallow builds inside houses, 

 under some circumstances even in the fire-place thus 

 becoming a beloved member of the family, the House 

 Martin constructs its strong and comparatively large 

 nest on the outside of the building. In mountainous 

 districts it is found also in an overhanging position 

 on the steep rocks, where it is sheltered from the rain. 

 In many villages, where windows and doors of the upper 

 floor are kept shut, so that the Chimney Swallow cannot 

 come in, the latter is not found, and the House Martin 

 then takes its place. 



This Swallow also lives entirely upon flying insects. 

 It spends most of its time on the wing otherwise it could 

 not live. It has, consequently, small, weak legs, which 

 are only useful for clinging. It is as useful as its 

 relative but has less confidence in man ; it is less 

 familiar. Neither does it please our ears with such a 

 pretty twittering, and its enclosed, remote nest, affords 

 us no insight to its family life. It arrives later in the 

 spring than the Swallow, and assembles in the autumn 

 in flocks, on towers, trees, roofs of houses and churches. 

 One fine day we find they are all up and away for the 

 distant South. 



This bird deserves every care and protection. 



I had been watching with interest the building of some 

 nests of the House Martin one season, and enjoying 

 the sight of the pretty creatures as they circled about a 

 house I was staying in for a time, and the way they 



