LIX.] 
OF SELBORNE. 
LETT Eli LTX. 
TO THE HOXOURABLE DA INKS BARRIXtrmX. 
The sand-martin, or Lank-martin {Hirundo ri2)aria, 'Luuvmus), 
is by much the least of any of the British livrundiiics ; and, as 
far as we have ever seen, the smallest known hirundo : tlioiigh 
Brisson asserts that there is one much smaller, and that isoht 
Hirundo esculenta. 
But it is much to be regretted that it is scarce possible for 
any observer to be so full and exact as he could wish in recit- 
ing the circumstances attending the life and conversation of this 
little bird, since it is fera naturd, at least in this part of the 
kingdom, disclaiming all domestic attachments, and haunting 
wild heaths and commons where there are large lakes ; while 
the other species, especially the swallow and house-martin, are 
remarkably gentle and domesticated, and never seem to think 
themselves safe but under the protection of man. 
Here are in this parish, in the sand-pits and banks of the lakes 
of Wolmer Forest, several colonies of these birds ; and yet they 
are never seen in the village ; nor do they at all frequent the 
cottages that are scattered about in that wild district. The only 
instance I ever remember where this species haunts any build- 
ing is at the town of Bishop's Waltham, in this county, where 
many sand-martins nestle and breed in the scaffold holes of 
the back-wall of William of Wykeham's stables : but then this 
wall stands in a very sequestered and retired inclosure, and faces 
upon a large and beautiful lake. Indeed this species seems so 
to delight in large waters, that no instance occurs of their 
abounding but near vast pools or rivers : and in particular it has 
been remarked that they swarm in the banks of the Thames in 
some places below London bridge. 
It is curious to observe with what different degrees of archi- 
tectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the same genus, 
M 2 
