110 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
resulting increase in the number of Martins was quite extraordinary.
Commencing with the year 1870, he had in successive years the
following number of nests on his house :—7, 20, 45, 51, 68, 81, 100
and no. After this the
number remained station-
ary at about 130, that being,
apparently, the greatest
number that could obtain
subsistence. Col. Russell's
evidence as to the injurious
nature of Sparrows, is not
less interesting, but is out
of place here.
Henry Doubleday saw thirty
or forty flying together at
Epping on October 15th, 1866
(34. 523). Mr. Laver records
(29. Nov. 11) having observed
a party of ten hawking over Col-
chester on the 5th of November,
1882. They eventually disappeared to the westward. On Nov. 22nd, 1888, two
were observed for fully an hour at Woodham Walter (50. ii. 270). Mr. Philip
Papillon saw a specimen at Colchester on Dec. 23rd, 1869 (29. Jan. 3rd, 1870).
At Harwich, Mr. Kerry says " it decreases in numbers every year." I am inclined
to think that the same remark applies to the entire county.
Sand-Martin : Cotile riparia.
A common summer visitor wherever there are sandy river- or
pit-banks suited to its nesting habits. It usually appears about the
end of March and disappears again during September, although in
1865, Lieut. Legge saw a pair near Shoebury on November 18th
(34. 92), and Mr. Hope mentions having observed them in Essex in
Christmas week—a very remarkable date. Its nesting-colonies are
found throughout the county wherever there are suitable sandy
banks.
Edward Doubleday says (15) it occurs at Epping, but does not breed there.
The Rev. J. C. Atkinson says (36. 101) : "A ballast-pit at Fingringhoe, in Essex,
is occupied by the most numerous colony I am acquainted with." They have oc-
casionally been known to nest in walls. Dr. Laver, for instance, saw several pairs
carrying nesting-materials into holes in the stone walls of Colchester Castle,
on May 25th, 1878 (29. June 1). Probably the scarcity of sandy banks through-
out the district led them to this.
[Purple Martin : Progne purpurea.
An American species, which has been admitted into the British List,
chiefly on the strength of a specimen said to have been shot near Kings-
. town about 1840, but there are not sufficient grounds for allowing its