5 
coverts and axillaries brown, and the edge of the chin and of the lower part of the gape are black, this 
latter character being only visible on close examination. 
Chelidon nipalensis (Hodgs.) is a very small, beautiful little Martin inhabiting Nepal. It has the upper 
parts, head, and throat, under wing-coverts, and under tail-coverts glossy black, the rump being white. 
Besides the above, there is said to be a distinct species in the Bogos country, North-east Africa—Chelidon 
albigena, Heugl. (J. f. O. 1861, p. 419), which differs from our European bird in having a white spot on 
the basal portion of the inner web of the outer tail-feathers. Of this species I have not examined 
an example. 
In its habits the Martin resembles the common Swallow, but may easily be distinguished 
from that species when on the wing by its conspicuous white rump. Its flight, like that of the 
Swallow, is exceedingly graceful and swift, though it appears to be somewhat less powerful on 
the wing than that species. One frequently sees the two species together, each sweeping about 
with that peculiar dexterity so characteristic of this group; and this species, like its ally, flies 
high or low as the influence of the weather causes the insects to keep near the earth or high up 
in the air. It feeds entirely on insects of various kinds, which it most frequently catches on the 
wing; but when hawking after its insect prey above water, it frequently stops and picks one off 
the surface (which it touches with its breast, stretching its wings up almost perpendicularly to 
avoid striking the water) and then proceeds on its devious winding flight. 
The note, which is usually uttered when the bird is on the wing, is a chirp or twitter; but 
during the breeding-season a sort of warble or continued twitter, which, though not very remark- 
able for melody, is not an unpleasant sound, is almost always uttered when they enter their 
nest. ; 
The Martin arrives usually a few days later than the Swallow, and soon begins to build or 
repair its nest. If undisturbed, the same pair will year after year in succession resort to the 
same nest; and Macgillivray states that a pair visited Carlowrie for the very long period of forty 
successive years. It appears difficult to be able to say with any degree of certainty that the 
birds which annually made their appearance and remained to breed were really the same pair, 
as they were not marked; but many instances are on record of the birds having been caught and 
marked, and the same birds were found to resort to their old nests the following year. 
The nest, which is placed in some sheltered position (under the eaves of a roof, in the upper 
corner of a window, or on the face of a rock), is constructed, like that of the Swallow, of mud; 
but, unlike the nest of that species, it is not open at the top, but built right up, an aperture 
being left on the sheltered side. Macgillivray, with his usual accuracy, describes a nest as 
follows :— The outer shell is a solid mass of fine loam, which has been built of pellets in the 
form of soft mud, so that the outer surface presents horizontally compressed mamille. The 
average thickness of this crust is seven twelfths of an inch. It is quite friable; and if any 
glutinous matter has ever been intermixed with the mud, it has entirely disappeared; but it is 
in some measure held together by a considerable intermixture of short straws. ‘The next layer 
is of straws of various kinds, mostly decayed. ‘This is followed by a thick layer of wool, which 
is succeeded by a quantity of hogs’ bristles, cows’ hair, human hair, a piece of linen, a bit of 
tape, and a number of feathers, chiefly of the domestic fowl.’ Most of the nests I have 
examined were lined almost entirely with feathers, intermixed with a little wool or hair. 
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