Birds. 7481 



has none of tlie neatness for which the nest of the following species is 

 so remarkable. 



Eggs, 4, 5. White speckled with brown, generally forming a dis- 

 tinct zone at the larger end ; the only British species of the family 

 that has speckled eggs. 



Martin, Hirnndo nrhica. 



Situation. Under eaves of honses, string-courses, and other pro- 

 jections in churches, arches of bridges, upper angles of windows, face 

 of chalk-pits, rocks and sea-clifFs. 



Materials. Mud, neatly welded together, and forming a compact 

 domicile, enclosed on all sides excepting a circular hole just large 

 enough to admit the passage of the birds within the mud habitation; 

 internally lined with straw, hay and feathers. 



Eggs, 5, 6. White, tinged with pink, unspotted. 



Sand Martin, Hirnndo riparia. 



Situation. At the extremity of deep holes, excavated by the bird 

 itself, in sand-banks. 



Materials. Hay, straw, feathers. 



Eggs, 4, 5. White, unspotted. 



Swift, Cypselus a pus. 



Situation. Holes in the towers and steeples of churches, some- 

 times under the eaves of inhabited houses. 



Materials. Hay, straw, feathers collected while descending. 

 " These materials are cemented together, and the inside of the nest is 

 plastered with a viscid substance furnished by glands peculiar to cer- 

 tain birds of this genus." — Mr. Selby. I have no knowledge of the 

 substance or glands alluded to by this eminent ornithologist. 



Eggs, 2. White, unspotted. 



Nightjar, Caprimulgus europcBus. 



Situation. On the ground, on sandy heaths, particularly under 

 shelter of the common brachen (Eupteris aquilina). 



Materials. None. 



Eggs, 2. Gray, spotted and marbled with dark brown and gray, 

 very glossy. " The female, when sitting upon her eggs or young, 

 squats so close and flat, besides remaining motionless, and her colours 

 harmonize so well with the surrounding surface of the ground, that 

 she is not readily seen, unless you happen to catch sight of her large 

 lustrous dark eye ; indeed, when the young are hatched she will 

 almost let you tread on her before she attempts to rise." — Zool. 3654. 



This bird is the cuckoo of those juvenile naturalists who write and 

 VOL. XIX. 2 B 



