58 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



a large establishment on either side of the cutting, and got into 

 conversation with one of the porters about them. On my say- 

 ing, I supposed that the boys robbed a good many of the nests, 

 he answered, ' Oh, sir, they would if they were allowed, but the 

 birds are such good friends to us, that we won't let anybody 

 meddle with them.' I fancied at first that he spoke of them as 

 friends in the way of company only, but he explained his meaning 

 to be, that the flies about the station would be quite intolerable 

 if they were not cleared off by the martins, which are always 

 hawking up and down in front of it ; adding, that even during 

 the few hot days which occurred in the spring before their 

 arrival, the flies were becoming very troublesome. 'Now,' he 

 said, ' we may now and then see one, but that is all. ' 



" It was a bright sunny day in July, and the scene was a very 

 lively and interesting one. The mouths of the holes on both 

 sides of the cutting were crowded with young martins — as many 

 perhaps as four or five in each — sunning their barred white 

 breasts, and waiting to be fed : the telegraph wires formed 

 perches, of which advantage was taken by scores of others more 

 advanced in growth, and of old ones reposing after their exer- 

 tions ; while the air was filled with others employed in catering 

 for their families. All of a sudden the young ones retreated into 

 their holes ; the wires were deserted, and only a few remained, 

 describing distant circles. I thought that a hawk must have 

 made his appearance, but it turned out that the alarm had been 

 caused by two men walking over the heath above, and approach- 

 ing the holes. The young ones in the holes had, no doubt, felt 

 the jar caused by their tread, and those on the wing, who saw 

 them, had probably given warning, by note, to the others perched 

 on the wires, who could not have seen, nor, I should think, heard 

 their approach." 



Although the Kingfisher [Alccdo ispida) does not excavate 

 the whole of the burrow in which it resides, it does, at all 

 events, alter and arrange a ready-made burrow to suit its own 

 necessities. 



This lovely bird, which is one of the few indigenous British 

 species that can vie with the bright-feathered denizens of the 

 tropics, is happily very plentiful in England, scarcely any stream 

 or lake being without its Kingfishers. 



