SWALLOW 



121 



A favourite site for the swallow's nest is the top of a joist sup- 

 porting the rafters of a barn or other outhouse to which there is 

 free access. It is a saucer-shaped rim of mud or clay, placed on 

 the wood. The inside is lined with dry grass and feathers. It is 

 quite open at the top, but usually close to the roof. The eggs are 

 four to six in number, and vary much in shape and disposition of 

 markings. They are pure white, spotted with rich coffee-brown, 

 light reddish brown, and purplish grey. During incubation the 

 sitting-bird is fed at intervals by her mate. 



Two broods are reared in the season, and the young arc fed for 

 some days after quitting the nest. The early broods are believed 

 to leave this country in advance of the adults and the young of the 

 later broods. The final and principal migration takes place at the 

 end of September or early in October, the birds congregating some 

 days before departure in large flocks, sometimes numbering many 

 thousands. 



Martin. 

 Chelidon urbica. 



FIG. 45. HABIIN. natural size. 



Head, nape, and 

 upper part of the back 

 black, with violet re- 

 flections; lower parts 

 of the back and under 

 parts pure white. Feet 

 and toes covered with 

 downy feathers ; tail 

 forked. Length, five 

 and a half inches. 



The martin, or 

 house-martin, is as 

 common and widely 

 diffused in the British 

 Islands as the swallow, 

 and as it lives with man 

 in the same way, mak- 



ing use of houses to build its nest on, it shares the affection with 

 which that bird is generally regarded. Most people, in fact, regard 

 them as one and the same species ; for both are of one type, and 



