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THE SAND MARTIN. 

 (Cotile riparia.) 



THE Sand Martin flies quickly, but not with the arrow- 

 like speed of the Chimney Swallow. It dwells on the 

 waterside, where it nests in colonies of hundreds, even 

 thousands. The nest is composed almost exclusively 

 of earth, and is placed in the steep high bank or in the 

 walls of a landslip, and it is remarkable as to its 

 architecture. The little bird excavates a long horizontal 

 tunnel in the side of the bank, at the end of which is an 

 oven-like cave, in which it builds its nest of vegetable 

 fibre, roots, feathers and hair. The neighbours build 

 so close together that the bank in many places appears 

 to be completely honeycombed. These nests are built 

 at least 12 inches from the surface of the bank. This 

 bird visits the neighbouring streams and ponds in 

 flocks, circling and darting here and there as is 

 necessary in the pursuit of the winged water-insects. 

 On its return in the spring it seeks and enlarges its old 

 nest hole. It is widely distributed and occurs in great 

 numbers. 



The Sand Martin arrives in Great Britain often as 

 early as the last week in March ; it is also one of the first 

 species to leave us. The Sparrows often oust whole little 

 colonies of these birds from their dwellings, but when 

 the colony is a large one they get the better of the 

 hectoring intruders. As soon as the young are able to 

 leave the nest they go to spots where there is water, as 

 they find their food all day long in localities where there 

 is an abundance of insects gnats especially. Most 

 useful they are in marshy localities, where the atmos- 



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