XIV. 



HIRUNDO URBICA. (linn.) 



Martin, House Martin, or Window Swallow. 



The Martin builds its nest (as every one is aware) under 

 the eaves of our houses and at the corner of our windows, 

 occasionally also against cliffs overhanging the sea. Some 

 particular property in the surface seems to be requisite in 

 order to establish a firm foundation, which is, I think, most 

 readily obtained against a house that is rough-cast : it will, 

 in some situations, make numerous beginnings, which are 

 again and again abandoned ere it fixes upon its site. 



The nest is composed of mud, rendered more adhesive by 

 mixing with it small pieces of straw ; and, as observed by 

 White, in his History of Selborne, it is provident enough not 

 to advance its work too fast, but by building only in the 

 morning, gives it sufficient time to harden, lest, while soft, 

 its own weight pull it down. The morning is certainly the 

 usual hour of working, but an interesting exception is related 

 in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, by Mr. Couch, 

 who says, " I have known them neglect a fine morning, and 

 carry on the work through the afternoon, from no other ap- 

 parent reason than the facility of procuring mortar at that 

 period from a small distance, in a place which in the morn- 

 ing was covered with the tide."" That the bird has the power 

 of adding some glutinous moisture to the clay, I think there 

 is no doubt, as it is conveyed not in its bill, but within its 

 mouth. " This," says Mr. Rennie, " will be evident to any 

 person who will take the trouble of picking up a little mud 

 from the same place where the swallows collect it, and trying 

 to make it adhere to a wall, as they do in their nests." The 

 lining is fine grass and feathers, and no sooner has it com- 

 pleted its snug little house, than the saucy pert old sparrow 



