These welcome and cheering visitants leave us the latest of their tribe, namely, for the most part about the beginning of Octocer, although some have been known to remain till the 6th of November ; and Col. Montagu informs us, that, in 1805, he saw them as late as the 15th of that month in the neighbourhood of Kingsbridge, itt Devonshire ; and Mr. White says, that he once observed, in the quadrangle of Christ Church College, Oxford, a house martin flying about, and settling on the parapets, on a very warm sunny morning, which happened to be the 20th of the same month. The first broods usually begin to congregate about the first week of August ; and, as the summer declines, the flocks daily increase in num bers by the accession of the second broods, till in some places, particularly among the hamlets on the Thames, they swarm in myriads, accustoming themselves to lofty flights, and apparently training for their departure. On a peculiar cry being uttered, they mount aloft and disap pear. There is reason to believe that they migrate in great bodies, and too high in the air for human observa tion. a few unfortunate stragglers only. detained by sick ness or the lateness of their birth, remaining behind. Ac cording to Mr. White, many more leave this country than retire to it in spring ; but such as revisit their native seats find their way back again to their nests, as has been as certained, by tying coloured threads or brass wires to their legs, and setting them at liberty again. Now, by what singular faculty can a creature, apparently so helpless, direct its course, perhaps from the wilds of Africa, to the identical spot in Europe which it formerly frequented ? Martins, to a certain degree, are social and familiar ; and there are instances of their breeding within doors when not molested, and of their being tamed; but in this last state they are fed with difficulty, and are very apt to die. They are found throughout Europe and Asia, occurring as far north as Drontheirn, in Norway, and abounding in Kamtschatka and Siberia. They arrive in Sweden about the 9th of May. In England they are more numerous than the swallows, which generally arrive in this island about ten days earlier.
H. riparia Lin. Er.c. Sand Martin, Bank Martin. Sand Ssvallow, or Shore Bird. Cinereous, or mouse-coloured above, with the throat and abdomen white ; throat encir cled with a mouse-coloured ring ; legs black, and downy behind. Length of the body four inches nine lines, alar extent eleven inches. These are consequently the small est of our native hirundines; with us they are also less numerous, and more local, than the other sorts. They ap pear about the same time as the chimney swallows, and have been sometimes observed to depart with them or the martins. They resort only to such parts as are con venient for their breeding, and hence they are chiefly seen about rivers, where they nestle in the banks, and al ways above the highest water-mark, occasionally in cre vices of rocks, but more commonly in sand-pits, in which excavations are easily effected. These are round, hori zontally serpentine, and generally two feet deep ; and the nest, which is placed at the bottom, is composed of straw and dried fibres, and lined with feathers. The sand mar tins, however, in place of digging holes for themselves, sometimes take possession of those of the bee-eaters and kingfishers; and sometimes they build in old walls, in the cavity of a quarry, or even in the hollows of old trees. They breed once, and occasionally twice in the season, the female laying four or five pure white and very trans parent eggs, which are hatched late in May. They have
a low muttering voice, and in their manners considerably resemble the common martins, with which they at times associate. But they have a peculiar mode of flying or flitting about, with odd jerks and vacillations, not unlike the butterfly ; and hence in Spain they are called by the peasants mountain butterflies. The young assume a quan tity of delicate fat, which has been compared to that of the ortolan. In Malta these birds are permanent resi dents; and in a very warm and sheltered valley in Bugey, M. Hebert has seen them fluttering about in the winter months. Such of them as loiter too late in this country have sometimes been found stiffened with cold, and re vived by the application of a gentle heat ; but that they undergo any regular hybernation, appears, from the ex periments of Spalianzani, to be very doubtful.
H. rufa, Gmel. Lath. Stc. Barn, or Rufous-bellied Swal low. Steel blue above ; forehead and throat chesnut ; breast with a purple band ; the tail feathers, with the ex ception of the two in the middle, marked with an oblong white spot. Length from the tip of the beak to that of the tail seven inches, and expanse of wing thirteen inches. This species so much resembles the common swallow, that it has often been confounded with it ; but it differs in having the under parts of the body Chesnut instead of white, and in building in barns, sheds, or on beams and rafters, and not in chimneys. The nest is commenced ear ly in May, and is finished in about a week It is in the shape of an inverted cone, with a perpendicular section cut off on that side by which it adheres to the wood. At the top there is a ridge, which seems to be intended for the old birds to perch on while tending the nestlings. The case is formed of mud mixed with fine hay, and dis posed in regular layers from side to side, being about an inch in thickness ; and within there is a quantity of hay profusely lined with goose's feathers. The eggs, which are usually five, are white, very transparent, and sprinkled with reddish brown. There are generally two broods in the season, namely, the first about the middle of June, and the second about the 10th of August. These birds ap peal- to live in great harmony ; for twenty or thirty pairs often breed in the same barn; and several of their nests are within a few inches of one another, and yet no symp toms of discord are observed among them. When the young first leave the nest, they are observed to fly about within doors for some days before they venture out. On their first entrance into the open air, they are conducted by the old ones to the sides of rivers and similar places, where their food is most abundant, and there they are fed by their parents. They are easily tamed, and soon be come very gentle and familiar, so that when confined in a room they quickly begin to employ themselves in catch ing flies, and will call out to their companions as they pass by the window. Their song is a sprightly warble, and is sometimes continued for a considerable length of time. These swallows arrive near Philadelphia the latter end of March, or the beginning of April : about the middle of August they begin to assemble and make preparations for departing, and by the middle of September there is scarcely one to be seen. They are most abundant to the east of the Alleghany mountains, and extend as far north as the river St. Lawrence. During the months of Sep tember and October they are observed in great numbers in Florida, passing southward.