Miners, Diggers, and Carpenters. 



labour of excavation much before the middle of May, 

 yet they go at their work with such incessant and right 

 good will that by the end of the month the tunnel is 

 completed, the nest built, and in it repose four or six 

 beautiful, pure white eggs, with shells so thin and clear 

 that, when freshly laid, the ruddy yolk within shines 

 through, giving them an exquisite golden-pinkish hue. 

 The Sand Martin is essentially a sociable bird, and 

 generally from twenty or thirty to even a hundred pairs 

 will nest in close proximity to each other, so that the 

 vertical face of the sand cliff is quite honeycombed 

 with their excavations. 



That glorious feathered jewel, the Kingfisher, that 

 Tennyson called the " sea-blue bird of March," is 

 another expert among birds in the art of mining. Nest- 

 ing generally begins about the second week in May, 

 though in some seasons it is much earlier. The King- 

 fisher generally selects for its nesting site a steep, vertical 

 bank by the stream side, up which none of its four- 

 footed carnivorous foes can scramble. Here, at a con- 

 venient distance above the stream, it sets to work with 

 its sharp, strong beak, and begins to bore a round hole 

 of just sufficient diameter to admit its body. Digging 

 slightly upwards, the Kingfisher continues tunnelling into 

 the bank for a distance of some two to three feet, the 

 gallery terminating in a smooth, roundish cavity which 

 forms the nesting chamber. The Kingfisher does not 

 seem to work quite so rapidly as the Sand Martin, so 

 that the work of digging the tunnel takes a propor- 

 tionately longer time. Should a stone be met with 

 during the work of excavating, it will, if possible, be 

 bodily removed by the bird ; but if of too great a size, 



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