394 
HIRUNDINIDiE. 
great numbers of house-martins nests about the tops of the fine old windows of all 
the stories at three sides of the castle. They were equally common on each of these 
sides, and picturesquely clustered on the top of each other with the apertures above, 
below, and in all positions. The three sides on which they were, are the north, south, 
and west, not one appearing on the east, although it presents every facility that the 
three others do, in windows, &c. This side only is retired, and forms a boundary 
to a garden, the gate of which is kept locked. There are doors in the three sides 
of the castle resorted to by the birds, but no entrance on that they do not occupy. 
In front, the bustle of an occupied farm-house is superadded. The colour of the nests 
harmonises well with the lichen-stained sandstone building. 
It has been remarked of this species, that the nest “is closed all around, except a 
small orifice, usually on the most sheltered side,” &c. My observation on the side 
of the nest chosen for entrance in the north of Ireland, does not accord with this, as 
in nests closely adjoining, the apertures are on every side. Of nine nests in front of 
a house before alluded to, the entrances appeared on the north, south, and west sides, 
the wall against which they were placed occupying the eastern. On this house, — 
as is not unfrequently the case, — several of these architects had, like certain other 
bipeds when erecting their habitations, taken advantage of their neighbours’ gables, 
and it may be presumed, for a s imil ar reason, — that of being saved trouble and ex- 
pense of labour: All the nests of the martin that I have particularly noticed here, 
had, with a single exception, the entrance close to the top. In this instance, 
although the nest was built against the wall of the house, beneath a projecting roof, 
the aperture was placed rather above the centre, in the same manner as that in the 
nest of the wren {Troglodytes Europceus) . The entrances to other nests on the 
same house, were as usual. 
Although the nest of the poor martin is often, in the north of 
the island, torn away from the houses of persons who imagine 
themselves to be possessed of good taste, yet there are others, who, 
disliking the harsh contrast between its clay-built shed and the 
snow-white walls of their mansions, are unwilling to disturb the 
summer wanderer, and for the sake of uniformity, have had its 
domicile whitewashed at the same time with their own. I first 
noticed this in the town of Antrim, where, on two houses, several 
nests thus appeared : their architects flying in and out, evinced 
their contentment with the change. In Hillsborough, I afterwards 
observed, that the same practice had been adopted, and without 
annoyance to the birds. When visiting the old church at 
Helmsley, Yorkshire, in Oct., 1844, I remarked that the nests of 
the martin built at the top of the windows so perfectly harmonised 
in colour with the venerable lichen-stained structure as almost 
to escape notice. 
