168 SAND-MARTIN. 
Newfoundland. In winter it visits Mexico, Central America and 
the valley of the Amazon; and—in the Old World—China, the 
Indian region, and South-eastern Africa down to Zanzibar. Occasion- 
ally it wanders to the Canary Islands. 
Early in May it makes a nest, generally in banks—whether 
natural, such as earth-cliffs and chalk-holes by the sides of rivers 
and lakes, or artificial, such as railway-cuttings, sandpits and gravel 
quarries—or even in huge heaps of sawdust. In such situations 
galleries slanting slightly upwards are bored, and, in a somewhat 
wider chamber at the end, the nest is formed of a little dry grass with 
an abundance of feathers. The eggs, usually 4-6 in number, are 
pure white: average measurements ‘7 by ‘48 in. In some parts of 
Norway the Sand-Martin burrows into the turf-covered roofs of 
the peasants’ houses ; while in this country holes in old walls are not 
unfrequently utilised, and Mr. R. Warren found nests in the crevices 
of a ruin on Lough Cullen. Small colonies are often ousted by the 
overbearing House-Sparrows, but where large numbers congregate, 
they are able to defy intruders. Two broods are generally produced in 
the season, and after leaving their flea-haunted nest, the young betake 
themselves to the vicinity of water, where they feed all day upon the 
gnats and other insects found in such localities, and roost at night 
in large numbers in the reed-beds and plantations. The male has a 
low twittering song, but the alarm-note is rather harsh. 
' The adult male is hair-brown above, slightly darker on the crown 
and lighter on the rump; wings and tail blackish-brown ; under 
parts white, except a mottled brown pectoral band ; bill black ; legs 
dark brown, with a tuft of pale buff-coloured feathers above the hind 
toe. Length 4°8; wing 4in. The female has a rather narrower 
band across the throat. The young bird, shown in the upper figure 
of the woodcut, has the feathers of the upper parts tipped with dull 
white, and the under parts tinged with buff. 
In the rocky gorges and mountainous regions of Central and 
Southern Europe many of my readers may have noticed a rather 
larger bird, resembling our Sand-Martin in the colour of its upper 
parts, but displaying white spots on its outspread tail. This is the 
Crag-Martin, Cétile rupéstris, a bird which has not yet been found 
in the British Islands, but which may possibly stray to our shores, as 
it breeds regularly no further off than Switzerland and the Pyrenees. 
This species has not the small tuft of feathers on the metatarsus, 
and its eggs are spotted, like those of the Swallow. 
