NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 117 



LETTEB XVI. 



TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 20^, 1Y73. 



DEAR SIR, In obedience to your injunctions I sit down t'o give you 

 some account of the house-martin, or martlet ; and if my moriography 

 of this little domestic and familiar bird should happen to meet with 

 your approbation, I may probably soon extend my inquiries t'o the rest 

 of the British hirundiries the swallow, the swift, and the bank- 

 martin. 



A few house-^martins begin to appear about the 16th' of April ; 

 usually some few days later than the swallow. $or some time after 

 they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business 

 of nidifi cation;, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the 

 fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their 

 blood may recover its- true tone and texture after it has been so long 1 

 benumbed by the severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the 

 weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a 

 mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be 

 formed of such 1 dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is 

 tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to 

 render it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a 

 perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires its 

 Utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed> so that it may 

 safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only 

 clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its 

 tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum ; and thus steadied, it- 

 works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. 

 But then, that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself 

 down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and for- 

 bearance enough not to advance hel* Work too fast; but by building 

 only in the morning, arid by dedicating the rest of the day to food and 

 amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an 

 inch seems to be a, sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen, 

 When they build mud- walls (informed at first perhaps by this little bird), 

 raise but a moderate layer at a time 5 and then desist, lest the work 

 should become top-heavy, and so be mined by its own weight. By this 

 method in about ten or twelve days is formed an Hemispheric nest with 

 a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and Warm ; and 

 perfectly fitted for all tHe purposes for which it was intended; But then 

 nothing is more common than for the house-sparrow, as soon as the shell 

 is finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it 

 after its own manner. 



After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature 

 seldom works -in vain, martins will breed on for several years together 

 in the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secure from 

 the injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic. 



