MARTIN—SAND-MARTIN. 
67 
cliffs — Mr. Poole has noted them at Small Hope Cliff, 
Shanklin ; and Munn at Dunnose and Freshwater Cliffs, 
and indeed they are found on most of the Island cliffs. 
The earliest date, in White's Calendar, of their arrival, 
is March 28th. 
The final flight of martins is expected in France about 
St. Martin's Day, November nth, and they may occasion- 
ally be seen in Hampshire about that date, certainly not 
our own birds, but some that have spent the summer 
further to the north. 
The following are examples : — 
Hillhead. November 14th, 1882. (Kelsall.) 
Fareham. November 13th, 1885. (Kelsall.) 
Milton. November 12th, 1902. (Kelsall.) 
Lymington. November 9th, 1896.- " Some thousands." 
(Meade-Waldo.) 
Isle of Wight. " Frequently in November." (Cowper.) 
Genus — Cotile. 
64. Cotile riparia, Sand-Martin. 
A summer visitor. 
It is found in all parts of the county and the Isle of 
Wight, where suitable nesting-places abound ; it does not, 
however, always confine itself to sandy pits or banks, but 
occasionally chooses chalk-pits or embankments, where 
there are patches of soil soft enough in which to make nest- 
ing-holes ; and it even nests in the crevices of old walls. 
Gilbert White ^ mentions their nesting in the scaffold 
* Letter xx. to Barrington. Selborne. February 26th, 1774. 
