A porter at a railway station close to a cutting told Mr. C. Simeon, who wrote on angling and natural history, that they did not allow boys about, robbing the eggs in the colonies nesting there. “They”—the birds—“are such good friends to us that we won’t let anyone meddle with them.” He explained further that the flies about the station would be unbearable but for the Martins that were always hawking about it. Before the Martins arrived a few warm spring days often brought out a troublesome number of flies. “Now,” he concluded, “we may see a fly now and then, but that is all.”
The Sand Martin is smaller than the others of the Swallow family and has dull simple coloured plumage. Back greyish brown, throat and underparts white, the short forked tail is of a uniform ashen-grey. Feet small but strong. It lays five small, pure white eggs.
USEFUL.
THE SWIFT.