Passekes. BIRDS. IIikukbinida;. 
290 
astonishing.” Under these circumstances, it is no 
wonder that tlie bird is a universal favourite, and 
Wilson gives us a ludicrous account of the only man 
he ever met with who disliked the martins. “ This,” 
he tells us, “was a penurious, close-fisted German, who 
hated them, because, as he said, ‘ they eat his peas' 
I told him he must certainly he mistaken, as I never 
knew an instance of martins eating yjeas ; hut he 
replied with coolness, that he had many times seen 
them himself ‘ hlaying near the hife,. and going schnip 
sclinap,' by which I understood that it was his hees 
that had been the sufferers ; and the charge could 
not he denied.” In fact, the Purple Martin has 
the somewhat singular taste of preferring wasps and 
hees for his food, and his diet is principally made up of 
tliese insects and large beetles. Of the latter, Wilson 
states that he has taken four from the stomach of a 
Purple Martin, all of them in a perfect state. 
The Purple Martin is about eight inches in length, 
and the general colour of the plumage in the male is 
a deep, rich, purplish blue, with the exception of the 
wings and tail, which are hrownish-black. d'he female 
is blackish-brown above, with a slight bluish or violet 
gloss ; the chin and breast are greyish-brown, and the 
belly whitish. The birds begin to build about two 
days after their arrival, taking up their residence in 
any convenient cavity, frequently where no accom- 
modation is specially preirared for them, taking pos- 
session of some of the compartments of a pigeon house. 
The nest, which is rather bulky, is composed of dry 
leaves, straws, haj', and feathers ; the eggs are four in 
number, and pure white. There are two broods, of 
which the first (in the middle States) appears in May, 
and the second late in July. These birds by no 
means confine themselves to country places, but like 
the marlins of our own country, come freely into the 
towns and cities, and sweep about boldly even in the 
most crowded streets. Their flight is exceedingly swift 
and eas}', and thej' sail much with the wings expanded. 
They leave the United States for the South about the 
end of August. The Purple Martin has been recorded 
as a British bird, on the ground of several specimens 
having been killed at different times in this country ; 
the most striking instance being that of two specimens 
shot at Kingsbury in Middlesex, in September, 1842 ; 
one of which was an old male, and the other a young 
bird of the year ; hence, it would appear that the birds 
must have bred in this country. 
Several other species of the genus Progne are found 
in the West Indian islands, and on the continent of 
South America ; most of them have the same habit of 
building about the abodes of man ; and one of them, 
which is common in the region of the Rio de Plata and 
Paraguay, has been described under the name of 
Progne domestica. They generally migrate southward 
in the summer, from the tropical into the more 
temperate parts of the South American continent, 
returning to the warm regions at the approach of cold 
weather. 
THE SAND MARTIN [Cotyle riparia), a common 
British species, belongs to a group in which the feet 
are veiy slender and scutcllated, the bill of moderate 
size, and slender, and the tail nearly even, or merely 
notched at the extremity. It is a very small species, 
measuring less than five inches in length ; the upper 
parts are of a uniform light brown colour, with the 
quill feathers of the wings and tail very dark or black- 
ish-brown ; the lower surface is pure white, with the 
exception of a brown band, which crosses the upper 
part of the breast ; the feet and bill are dark brown ; 
the wings, when closed, reach a little beyond the end 
of the tail. 
The Sand Martin, or Bank Martin as it is sometimes 
called, is very generally distributed over the British 
islands, but is still rather a local bird, and by no 
means so abundant as the chimnej'' swallow, or the 
house martin. It arrives in this country rather earlier 
than either of those species, having been noticed once 
or twice before the end of the month of March. It is 
well known in all parts of Europe, ranging as far north 
as Norway and Sweden; in Asia, it is met with in 
summer in the more temperate parts of Siberia, and it 
also occurs in India and even in the Philippine Islands, 
Avhilst the European specimens retire into Africa like 
our other swallows. But this species is more cosmo- 
polite than any of the preceding, for it inhabits both 
hemispheres, migrating from central and tropical 
America, to the northward, as far even as the 68th 
degree of latitude. Wherever it occurs, its habits are 
the same ; it frequents the banks. of rivers, the sides of 
sand-pits, and similar places, where a perpendicular 
bank of soft earth affords it the opportunity of burrow- 
ing without much difficulty. In these situations it 
scoops out the earth to a depth of about two feet in a 
horizontal direction, forming a beautifully regular 
cylindrical tunnel — a labour which, considering that its 
bill and feet are the only fools which it has to work 
with, is certainly most surprising. In its mining opera- 
tions, the bird clings with its feet to the surface of the 
sand or earth, in every possible position, and uses its 
little hill as a pickaxe in digging, as vigorously as tlie 
most experienced navigator. The inner extremity of 
the burrow is usually more or less crooked, and here 
a bed is prepared for the reception of the eggs, by 
the accumulation of a little loose hay and a few soft 
feathers. In a suitable situation, great numbers of 
these little galleries are excavated side by side, 
and the birds may be seen constantly going in and 
out of the holes. The eggs are from four to six in 
number, and pure white. The habits of the Sand 
Martin, in all other respects, are similar to those of the 
swallows in general ; like the preceding species these 
birds skim through the air with great ease and celerity, 
in pursuit of the insects on which thej^ and their 
young are fed; and like them they are fond of the 
neighbourhood of water, into which they dip when on 
the wing, both to drink and wash themselves. 
According to White, the young are sometimes fed 
with dragon flies almost as long as themselves, and 
on leaving the nest they are to be seen perched in 
a row upon a rail. 
THE CRAG SWALLOW {Cotyle rupestns), which is 
nearly allied to our sand martin, is an inhabitant of 
the southern parts of Europe and Asia, and of the 
north of Africa ; its migrations being less extensive 
than those of the English species. The general colour 
