radius of the circle. It does not trace this out, as we should do, by fixing a point for the centre, around
which to draw the circumference: on the contrary, it perches on the circumference with its claws, and
works with its bill from the centre outwards; and hence it is that in the numerous excavations recently
commenced, which we have examined, we have uniformly found the termination funnel-shaped, the centre
being always much more scooped out than the circumference. The bird consequently assumes all positions
while a t work in the interior, hanging from the roof o f the gallery with its back downwards, as often as
standing upon the floor. We have more than once, indeed, seen a Bank-Martin wheeling slowly round in
this manner on the face of a sand-bank, when it was ju st breaking ground to begin its gallery. All the
galleries are found to be more o r less tortuous to their termination, which is a t the depth o f from two
to three feet, where a bed o f loose hay and a few o f the smaller breast-feathers o f geese, ducks, or fowls
is spread with- little art for the reception o f the eggs. I t may not be unimportant to remark, also, that
it always scrapes out with its feet the sand detached by the b ill; but so carefully is tfiis performed, that it
never scratches up the unmined sand, o r disturbs the plane of the floor, which rather slopes upwards, and
of course the lodgment of rain is thereby prevented.”
A nest taken from a bank o f the Thames, on the 4th o f Ju ly 1854, was composed o f a layer of grasses,
above which was a second layer o f the Swan’s breast-feathers, so placed as to curl over the eggs, the
appearance forcibly reminding one o f the calyx o f a tulip or white water-lily; although the hole was damp,
the platform of grasses and feathers formed a warm and dry receptacle for the eggs, which were o f a pearly
white, and six in number. I t is supposed that the Sand-Martin only rears one brood in each year, but I
think it sometimes goes to nest a second time.
This species, like the other members o f the family, is very much infested with parasites, respecting which
the following note has been kindly transmitted to me by Signor Henry Giglioli, a gentleman o f Pavia, at
present residing in this country for the prosecution of his scientific stu d ie s:— “ In a t least twenty nests
of the Sand-Martin ( Cotyle riparia) which I examined a t the beginning o f July, in Surrey, I found all of
them infested with parasites, some living on the young birds, and others on the materials o f which the
nest was formed. These parasites were so numerous that the eggs, as soon as laid, were literally covered
with their excrements, giving them a spotted appearance. What strikes me as strange in the matter is, that
I have observed this in no other country. When in Paris last year, I examined a t least fifty Sand-Martins
nests, but no trace o f a parasite was discoverable. On examination of the specimens I placed in spirits, I find
they comprise five distinct species:—a Tick ( Ixodes-------?), a Flea ( P u le x ?), a larva, probably that o f the
flea, an insect very like the Ricinus hirundinis of Latreille, and a braclielytrous Coleopteron ( Oceytelus rugosus ?).
The Sand-Martin is found over all the British Islands, even to the outer Hebrides. The Duke of
Argyll informs me that a considerable colony breeds opposite Balmoral Castle, and that it appears to be
the most numerous species on the Upper Dee. I t is also found in summer throughout the temperate parts
of the Old W o rld ; for I find it in Schrenck’s ‘ L ist of the Birds of the Amoor,’ Swinhoe’s ‘ L ist o f the Birds
of China,’ in Blyth’s and Jerdon’s Lists o f the Birds of India, and we know that it may be enumerated among
the avifaunse of the northern portion o f Persia and Africa. It is also equally abundant in all parts of North
America, where, as with us, it is a summer visitant.
Such, then, is a brief history o f the little Sand-Martin, the most hardy o f the Swallow tribe which visits
our island. Like the Swallow, it comes to us from Africa, sometimes in M arch ; but these early visitors are
few in number; indeed winged insects, upon which these birds solely live, are a t this season very scarce, and
quite insufficient to support a large number. These early birds frequent in preference the sunny sides of cliffs
on our south coast, although sometimes they may be seen inland, flying over rivers and such sheltered places
as are likely to supply them with an abundance of midges, gnats, and flies. By the early part o f April their
migration is completed.
The sexes are alike in colour, and may be thus d escribed:—
Head, neck, back, and upper tail-coverts light brown ; primaries and tail-feathers very dark brown; under
surface white, crossed on the upper part of the breast by a band o f hair-brown; beak nearly black ; legs, toes,
and claws purplish brown.
The young, from the time they emerge from the hole in which they have been bred, are very similarly but somewhat
darker-coloured than the adults, and each feather is narrowly edged with grey.
The front represents the bird o f the natural size, colony in the distance, and the English chicory, Cichoriwn
intybus.