thus completed is frequently occupied' byybpth birds at the
same time, who thus appear to, enjoy the habitation, their
united industry has achieved. In some instances these birds
build under projections against the Surface of high cliffs, as
those referred to by Mri Couch on the Cornish, coast, and
others mentioned by Mr. Selby as occurring about St. Abb’s.
Head, on -the coast of Northumberland.
■ ThevMartin produces' .three,, and. sometimes-/: even four
broods in the season. Dr. Jenner, writing from home, say®',
“ A pair of Martins hatehedfourj broods, o f youngr ones in the"
house of a tradesman^ in thisiplace in.the-year The
latter brood was hatched in' the early part of October.:
About the middle of Jhe month the-old biiids went off, -and
left .their young ones, about half &edgad, jto Jpêrish., The
pair returned to the. .nest .Ipstl7 tb of May,-17*87, and threw
the skeletons
The eggs are four or five in number ï^they are smooth* and
'while, measuring ninie Ilpss: and-a half in lengthy-a-mipix:
lines in breadths Incubatipm ias&rthirtéen day^.;- The
youteg are at first, fed by the <ii| birds goingJnto'the .flest.^ó
them ; after a time, -the young thrust their heads out at the
opening on the arrival of either, parent bird; who feeds them
while hanging on by their sharp, crooked claws, tbïTr^igh.
outside of the nest. The-old female begins'-to- lay j again as
soon as each young brood is able'to leavauthri ne&fe - As
the season advances n smaller number of jeggknr-e. produced;
but White says they.are never without unfledged young ones
as late as Michaelmas.
The subject of the Martins deserting their young has been
adverted to. This singular feet in their economy has;#^fea
particularly attended to by Mr. Johh Blackwall, and the
following, particulars are derived- from that geritlöMn’s published
“ Researches in Zoology.” I t did not" come to my
knowledge that these late broods are sometimes deserted by
■the parent ■ birds beforé they are capable of providing for
themselves, till' the spring* of 1 8 2 1 ; when a pair of House
Martins,- after taking ..possession of a nest which had been
Constructed in the* preceding ’summer, drew out the dried
^b'ödiés of« three nëarly full-fledged^ neétlings which had perished
In it, preparatory lorappropriatihg. it to their own purposes.
- 'About-'the same time^and 'néar thèv same spot,' a
■ .similar attempt- was made by^another pair of Hobse Martins ;
but all tMir e ffo rts^ dirifadg’d the, young proving ineffectual,
,;#hey on-tirelyclosed up the.iapértUre with .’clay, and so con-
^tfjl-pd -the mest- into a- Sepulchre’, ,At first I was disposed to
attribute tljé untimely fate oh the nestlings, thus unexpectedly,
■jdis^ovgred^to thë' ^accidental- ^destruction of one dr both of
4he;parent.s-'; ’..but a-little reflection induced me to change my
p in io n .- So, many "instances,5 MereJ|^.led 'to mind of the
suddgji departnrM|f. House Martins, at periods when, ' to all
appparance^’f ' ' m w s | büs’ily- engaged -in '.providing for
th;eir- families,- that- what befoVe was regarded as the unavoid-
sl|ïg;^#^|'qu#hci^‘èf a fortuitous, circumstance| I now began
tf.>Su^ec|^mj!gh| be- 'oc.oasiehedc fe|||a voluntary-act--‘óf desertion.
To- g&af^np' this dojibtful^ö^i't- sèveral examinations
V ^ tm ad e , at thëy,sec%nd- ófiwhieh- on- fehe^Snd of October;
several ■ riests£;?bötfr of 'Swallows and - Martins' werri
fanhd4d'hantain dead young ones*’ .At a-third sëarchtón the
19th of' November, ].8-24f Toupteen nests-'.-were' examined ;
fiyef of them contained, dead 'nesllïhgs, and'One nest, contained
two pggs-, whose -contents <-'very- biidenily showed that they :
had been' forsaken when ;bn the point of'bring hatched. A
fou,rth ■ so&r'sih-was made onjhe 11th of. November 18$6, when
# ta^'found thatfodf .twenty-lwo ;neÈts .then examined, eight
of-them c%raiped».^è>'d .young' birds-, amounting together to
nineteen-; 'and fivri nestsr-'cohtained - eggs amounting together
to sixteen. Mr. .blackwall mentions ’having*"seen a pair of
House Martins feeding their unfledged young as late as the
• VOL. I I. Q