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 at 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 thau 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, o r fowls
is spread with little a rt for the reception of 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 this performed; that it
never scratches up the unmined sand, or disturbs the plane o f the floor, which rather slopes upwards, and
of course th e lodgment o f rain is thereby prevented.”
A nest taken from a bank o f the Thames, on the 4th o f July 1854, was composed o f a layer of grasses,
above which was a second layer of 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 o r white water-lily; although the hole was damp,
the platform o f grasses and feathers formed a warm and {fry receptacle for the eggs, which were of a pearly
white, and six in number. I t is supposed th at the Sand-Martin only rears one brood in each year, but I
think i t 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 o f his scientific stu d ie s:— “ In a t least twenty nests
o f the Sand-Martin (Cotyle riparia) which I examined a t the beginning of 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 th at 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 th at o f the
flea, an insect very like the Ricinus hirundinis o f Latreiile, and a brachelytrous Coleopteron ( Oxytelus rugosus ?).
The Sand-Martin is found over all the British Islands, even to the outer Hebrides. The Duke o f
Argyll informs me th at 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 o f the Amoor,’ Swinhoe’s ‘ List o f the Birds
o f China,’ in Blyth’s and Jerd o n ’s Lists o f the Birds of India, and we know that it may be enumerated among
the avifaunas of the northern portion o f Persia and Africa. It is also equally abundant in all parts o f 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 March; 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 o f 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 o f midges, gnats, and flies. By the early part o f April their
migration is completed.
The sexes are alike in colour, and maybe thus described:—
Head, neck, back, and upper tail-coverfcs light brown ; primaries and tail-feathers very dark brown; under
surface white, crossed on the upper p art o f the breast by a band of hair-brown; beak nearly black ; legs, toes,
The young, from the time they emerge from the hole in which they hare 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 of the natural size, colony in the distance, and the English chicory, f'tchoriutn