24 Wild Birds, Useful and Injurious. 
many. Swallows catch the annoying horse-flies, or “ clegs,” 
as they are called in some districts ; and I had the pleasure of 
finding the unmistakable wing-cases of “ turnip-flies ” amongst 
a mass of insect fragments beneath the nest of a martin. The 
little brown Sandmartin may be readily distinguished from 
the martin by its brown colour and the absence of the white 
patch above the tail. Every one has seen the tunnels bored 
into sandy banks by these little soft-billed birds, and their 
excavation is a remarkable achievement. Though swallows 
and martins prey chiefly upon small insects such as gnats, 
they will at times take much larger game ; thus there is the 
testimony of Gilbert White that young sandmartins are fed on 
dragon-flies nearly as large as themselves,' and an ^instance is 
Fig. 3. — Martin (Cheltdon urbica). 
recorded' of a martin seizing a crimson underwing moth, a 
much bigger insect than the familiar yellow underwing. 
The Swift, Screecher, or Deviling resembles the swallow 
and martin in its habits and appearance, though it has no 
real affinity with them. It is characterised amongst other 
things by the fact that all the four toes of its little feet 
are directed forward. On the wing its sooty plumage, large 
size, dashing flight, and screeching note make its identity 
sufficiently evident. It feeds entirely on insects. 
In the dusk of the evening one may see. the beautiful 
flight of the Nightjar, Fern Owl, or Goatsucker as it hawks for 
moths, cockchafers, and other beetles ; the white spots on the 
' The Birds of Devon, D’ Urban and Mathew, p. 69. 
