COTYLE RIPARIA. 



(The Sand-Martin.) 

 By Mr. G. D. ROWLEY. 



Where should we expect to find the Sand-Martin, if not at Sandy.? There 

 are, however, not a great many ; the publicity of the place and the want of 

 protection to the birds, together with the constant excavation going on for 

 railway purposes, keep the numbers down. 



The lithograph is from a photograph taken on the spot, for this work, 

 on the 27th of June, 1877. 



The colony established itself in 1877; and all the holes are fresh. The 

 birds are quite tame, and almost touch the men when digging, or settle upon 

 them. A pair take about a week to make a nest in the sand, which is here 

 about eighteen feet deep. This railway-station has long been famous for 

 Sand -Martins. 



When the ea-^s have been incubated a little while, the fleas abound to 

 such an extent that I have seen them fall out like rain. White, of Selborne, 

 mistook this insect for the common bed-flea (^Pulex irritans) ; whereas, 

 according to Mr. Harting's note to his edition of the ' History of Selborne,' 

 p. 200, " it appears even to be distinct from the flea of the Swallow, Pulex 

 hirundinis (Stephens), and has been described as P. Ufasciatus (Curtis)." 



VOL. III. N 



