A few house-martins begin to appear about the sixteenth of April;
usually some few days later than the swallow. For some time after
they appear the hirundines in general pay no attention to the
business of nidification, but play and sport about either to recruit
from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else
that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has
been so long benumbed by the severities of winter. About the
middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in
earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of
this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most
readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little
bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird
often builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting
ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation
firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this
occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports
itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a
fulcrum; and thus steadied it works and plasters the materials into
the face of the brick or stone.
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