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The Martin or Martinet. Hirundo agreftis.
Numb. LVI.
IT S Length was fix Inches; Breadth ten Inches and a half ; its "Bill and Head very
much deprefled and flat as in the Houfe- Swallows ; the upper Mandible fomewhat
longer than the nether; the Mouth yellow within fide; the Tongue cloven; the
Irides of the Eyes of a rediih Colour ; the Feet fmall and Legs ihort, and covered to
the very Claws with a white down, by which Note it is to be diftinguilhed from all
thole of the Swallow Kind.
Its Head, Neck, Back, Tail, and Wings are of the fame Colour with the Swallows,
but fadder and not io glofly ; its Rump, Breaft, and Belly white, under the Chin the
white is mote obfcure; in each Wing is eighteen matter Feathers; from the tenth to
the feventeenth have their Tips broad and indented ; the Tail is lefs forked than the Swallow's,
; the outmoft Feathers two Inches and a half long. This Bird builds a round
Neft covered above, leaving a round Hole in the Side by which it goes in and out.
In the Stomachs of the Young was found Flies and Beetles.
The Sand Martin. Hirundo riparia.
THIS Bird is the leaft of all the Swallow Kind, being from the Tip of the Bill
to the End of the Tail, but five Inches long; its Bill is fmall, iharp, flat,
black, as in the reft of this Kind ; from the Point to the Angles of the Mouth half
an Inch long; its Tongue cloven; its Eyes great; its Feet dusky; at the Rife of the
back Toe, a few fmall Feathers grow, elfe the Legs are bare as far as the Knees.
Its Head, Neck, and Back are of a dark dun or moufe Colour ; the Number of the
Feathers in the Wings and Tail are the fame as in other Swallows, but the quill
Feathers of the Wings are darker than thofe of the Coverts, and Back ; from the
tenth to the laft of all of equal Length; the fix next to the tenth, have their Tips
broad and indented ; the middle Feathers of the Tail are an Inch and three quarters
long, the outmoft an Inch and half. It builds in Holes of river Banks and fand Pits ;
makes its Neft of Straws, and Bent of Grafs, &c. within of Feathers, on which it
lays its Eggs : it differs from the common Martin in having no white on its Rump,
nor its Feet feathered as that hath.