11 



by Lis little pets, a few of whom, undeterred by our presence, immediately descended and 

 flew away with some morsels of clay. At the time of our visit, however, the nests were 

 nearly all completed, and in fact many of them contained young birds ; but in case any of 

 his favourites should require material for the warm lining of their nests, the Colonel led 

 the way to a hay-loft, the window of which he opened; taking a large bag of duck's 

 feathers in his hand he whistled to the birds, and blew a handful of tlie soft feathers 

 into the air. There was an immediate descent upon them, many of the birds seizing the 

 feathers within a yard of our faces and carrying them off to line their nests. Tliere was 

 a large old-fashioned Dove-cot in the farmyard, whicli was simply hung with nests on 

 all sides, row upon row, while all round the house were tiers of nests, not only situated 

 under the eaves, but even placed at a moderate height above the ground. To ensure the 

 building of the birds at this lower level, Colonel Russell adopted the method of placing 

 a protecting ledge of wood, and he would often attach a few nodules of mud to encourage 

 the birds to commence building. The very idea of a House-Sparrow daring to invade 

 the sacred domain of a Martin was sufficient to arouse the Colonel to ire, and he believed 

 that not one of the detested race was to be found within the precincts of the Martins' 

 paradise. On our happening to mention casually that we had seen a cock Sparrow in 

 the farmyard during the morning, tlie Colonel at once rose from the dinner-table and 

 rushed out, oblivious of the fact that it was Sunday, seized a gun and hastily slijjped in 

 a cartridge. A few seconds after, a shot was heard, and the Colonel returned in triumph, 

 bearing the dead body of the intruder. Altogether the visit j^aid to tliis excellent 

 naturalist of the old school is one of the pleasantest reminiscences in the life of the 

 writer. 



In the ' St. James's Gazette' of September 17, 1888, occm's the following curious 

 note on the nesting of the House-Martin : — " A correspondent writes from Chiswick : — 

 'With a boy's curiosity I once destroyed by means of a pole a House-Martin's nest 

 which was built under the eaves of the stables. Pitv for the half-fled i^-ed nestlings thus 

 brought to the ground moved me to obtain the aid of a groom, a ladder, and an old 

 Tkrush's nest. The young birds were placed in tlie strange nest, and this was put upon 

 a small shelf in the position of the original Martin's nest. The parent birds not only 

 retarned to tend and rear their young, but they built a superstructure upon the top of 

 the Thrush's nest, completely roofing it in, and thus producing a most interesting 

 example of joint architecture.' " 



The eggs of the Martin are white and somewhat glossy ; they vary in uuiuIilt from 

 four to six; they vary in length, according to Mr. Sceljohm, from O'S to ()-7 inch, nnd 

 from 0-55 to 0-52 in breadth. 



Tlie descriptions are taken from specimens in the British ^[useum, and tlic figures 

 of the adult and J'oung are from examples in the collection of .Mr. "Wyalt. 



Por the geographical distribution of the Housc-^lartin, chh' Infra, Tlate 7 [MapJ." 



3x 



