HIRUNDIXID^. 65 



love to frequent our dwellings, and to place their nests in 

 simple confidence in trust to our care and keeping — our 

 chimneys, cottage-eaves, church-towers, railway-stations, 

 and out-buildings being the usual sites in which they 

 build. 



First to reach our shores in the spring is the tiny Sand- 

 Martin, who truly, like the primrose, '' comes before the 

 Swallow^ dares," and is generally the subject of the notice 

 of " An early Swallow " in the local newspapers. In West 

 Somerset we have seen the Sand-Martin as early as 12th 

 March, and it has been observed in the early part of that 

 month in South Devon. By the end of March it is usually 

 common. 



About the end of March also dwellers by the sea-side 



may count upon seeing a pair or two of genuine " early 



Swallow^s " hunting for flies among the depressions of the 



sand-hills, or beneath some sheltered wall close to the 



beach. In such places on the Braunton Burrows we have 



come across Swallows on the 2Gth March, and in South 



Devon they have been seen as early as 8th March. The 



first large flight, however, does not reach this country 



until 10th April as an average date, and is closely followed 



by successive flights until the end of the month, by which 



time every cottage chimney and accustomed station will 



have received its contingent of these cheerful twittering 



birds of summer. The latest of the family to arrive is the 



House-Martin, and it depends altogether upon the season 



whether it or the late-coming Swift is the first to make its 



appearance. The 2Gth April is an average date for the 



first Swifts, but in some late springs they will not have 



been detected before the 4th or 5th May. The end of 



April also witnesses the arrival of the Ilouse-iSIartins, but 



if the weather is ungenial they sometimes delay their 



passage until the middle of May. 



