318 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



to exist for a series of years, and to serve for tte bringing up of 

 many successive broods. The bird is exceedingly capricious as 

 to the spot ■which it selects for its residence, some houses being 

 crowded with the mud-built nests, while others are free from 

 them. The points of the compass are always noted by the 

 Martin, for tliere are some points which it clearly detests, while 

 it is equally fond of others. A wall with a north-eastern aspect 

 is a favourite locality, while a southern wall is seldom chosen, 

 probably because the heat of the meridian sun might dry the 

 mud too quickly, or might cause inconvenience to the young 

 birds. 



My own house, however, forms an exception to this general 

 rule, for the Martins have chosen to build on the south wall 

 only, probably because the eaves project so far that after nine 

 A.M. the nests are in shadow. Moreover, there is a narrow ledge, 

 barely an inch in width, which runs under the eaves, and forms 

 a support for the nests. While the Martins were engaged in 

 bringing up their young, I ascended to the nests, and inspected 

 them carefully, much to the indignation of the parent birds, who 

 flew about wildly, darting occasionally out of their nests, and 

 then stopping short and dashing away over the house. The 

 opening of the nest being close against the eaves, the interior 

 could not be inspected ; but the touch of the finger showed that 

 the walls were tolerably smooth, forming a great contrast with 

 the rough exterior. The young birds were quite as much 

 alarmed as their parents, and shrank to the very bottom of the 

 nest, where they were quite invisible. 



As to the nests themselves, they are exceedingly irregular on 

 the outside, and look as if they had been made of that preter- 

 naturally ugly substance called "rough-cast," with which the 

 walls of houses are sometimes disfigured. The material of which 

 the Martin makes its nest is said to be the earth that is ejected 

 by worms ; but that this substance does not form the whole of 

 the material is evident from the fact that stones, grass, and 

 feathers are mixed with the mud, together with small twigs and 

 a few fine roots of an inch or two in length. 



The Martin is a rather ingenious bird, and is always ready to 

 take advantage of any circumstance which may aid it in building 

 its nest. The inch-wide ledge, for example, which I have just 

 mentioned, has been quite appropriated by Martins, and there is 



