house-martin

Beyond the moat, in the elms that grew beside the orchard, rooks cawed loud and a house-martin sliced on sabre wings between the dairy and the horse-chestnut tree.

Sharpe's Devil Cornwell, Bernard 1992

Beyond the moat, in the elms that grew beside the orchard, rooks cawed loud and a house-martin sliced on saber wings between the dairy and the horse-chestnut tree.

Sharpe's Devil Cornwell, Bernard 1992

There are four kinds of British _hirundines_: -- the house-martin, the swallow, the swift, and the bank-martin, which have each habits peculiar to themselves.

Domestic Pleasures, or, the Happy Fire-side Frances Bowyer Vaux

The back of the house-martin is of a glossy black or bluish-black colour; it is white underneath; while the swallow, which is larger than the other two, has a glossy back, like the house-martin; but underneath it is more or less tinged with buff; and see, as I speak here is one flying past us.

Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children W. Houghton

We have in this country four different species of the swallow family which visit us every year; they come to us from Africa: these are the sand-martin, two specimens of which we have just seen, the swallow, the house-martin, and the swift.

Country Walks of a Naturalist with His Children W. Houghton

The house-martin makes its nest of mud, lined with grass or feathers, against the side of a house, and there lays its beautiful white eggs.

Twilight and Dawn Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation Caroline Pridham

The house-martin is a really clever builder; he takes little mouthfuls of clay in his beak and sticks them one by one under the deep overhanging tiles or slates of a house or barn, and gradually forms a complete nest like a ball of clay, which dries hard, and is stuck against the wall, with only one opening like a lip at the top.

The Children's Book of London

Then came other tyrant-birds and the loved swallows -- the house - swallow, which resembles the English house-martin, the large purple martin, the _Golodrina domestica_, and the brown tree-martin.

Far Away and Long Ago 1881

So far as my observation goes, I think the house-martin -- with all the swallow tribe -- prefers warmth, and, if possible, chooses the sunny side of a building.

Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies Richard Jefferies 1867

I think that house-martin fledglings and eggs are capable of enduring the utmost heat of our English summer, and the nests found deserted were abandoned for some other reason.

Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies Richard Jefferies 1867