96 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
plumage is dark from head to tail-tip (except for 
some slight and inconspicuous white markings at 
the edge of the tail-feathers), while the Martin 
has the lower half of its back pure white. Beneath, 
both birds are white alike, though the Swallow's 
white is less pure than the Martin's. The Swallow 
has also a small chestnut patch above the bill and 
a larger one upon the throat ; the dark upper 
parts are a deep metallic blue, as is clearly seen in 
sunlight, changing to a greener tint upon the tail. 
The head, neck, and back of the Martin are also 
deep, glossy blue, but its wings and tail are a dull, 
sooty black. The twelfth of April is about the 
usual date for the Swallow to appear in most dis- 
tricts, but it may be a week or ten days later, while 
It sometimes shows itself a week or more before 
the end of March. It has generally left us before 
the end of the third week in October ; but, like 
the House Martin, it often lingers later in individual 
cases, and may be seen on mild, sunny days up to 
the end of the year, or even into the following 
January. A case is recorded by Mr. Howard 
Saunders in which a single Swallow actually sur- 
vived in Yorkshire till the following spring. The 
birds show no hurry, as a rule, to begin to build, 
and there are few nests with eggs before the third 
week in May. If all goes well and undisturbed, 
a second brood is generally produced in the course 
