THE FAIET MARTIN. 315 



nests of both these birds, and of eating the eggs and the young. 

 He always obtained his prey by getting under the nest, biting 

 out the bottom, and receiving the contents in his mouth. 



The curious flask-shaped nests which are seen in the illustra- 

 tion are buUt wholly of clay and mud, and are made by a 

 beautiful little Australian bird, named the Faiey Maetin 

 (Hirundo Arul), closely allied, as its generic name signifies, to 

 the swallows and martins of our own country. The bird is 

 spread over the whole of Southern Australia, where it arrives in 

 August, and whither it departs in September. 



These remarkable nests are generally to be found upou rocks, 

 and are always close to rivers, but have never been seen within 

 many miles of the sea. Sometimes, however, the bird chooses 

 another locality, and, instead of fixing its nests to the side of 

 a rock, attaches them to the interior of one of the huge hollow 

 trees which are so common in Australia. Now and then it 

 behaves like the martin of England, and builds its nest under 

 the protection of human habitations. 



The shape of the nests always resembles that of a flask or 

 retort, and their size is extremely variable, the length of the 

 spouts, or necks, being from seven to ten inches, and the dia- 

 meter of the bulb varying from four to seven inches. Mr. Gould 

 mentions, in his work on the Birds of Australia, that each nest 

 is the joint work of several birds, six or seven being sometimes 

 employed upon one nest, one sitting in the interior, as chief 

 architect, arranging and smoothing the material, while the 

 others go off in search of mud and clay, which they knead well 

 in their mouths before applying it to the nest. 



As is generally the case with clay which is thus kneaded, it 

 becomes very hard when baked in the sun, but, at the same 

 time, is rather slow in drying. When the weather is dry, the 

 bird can only work in the mornings and evenings, because 

 the heat of the sunbeams soon renders the clay too stiff to be 

 worked by the delicate beaks of the birds ; and, therefore, in the 

 middle of the day, the Fairy Martins cease from their archi- 

 tectural labours, and do nothing but chase flies. During wet 

 weather, however, when no flies are abroad, and the air is full of 

 moisture, the birds work continually at their nests, and soon 

 complete their labours. 



