mth incidental Remarks. 3 47 



every sweep ; and, slowly congregating in their ascent, con- 

 tinued thickening in numbers and lessening in the distance, 

 till at length, '^ parvis componere magnd^ [to compare great 

 things to small], they assumed exactly the appearance of a 

 swarm of flies. At last they vanished to the westward ; but 

 whither they pursued their route I cannot tell, though I sup- 

 pose that they retired straight to roost among the osier beds 

 beside the Thames. 



Mr. Selby observes of the bank martin, that he is not aware 

 whether they ever congregate in the autumn, like the other 

 species, previous to their migration. They certainly do con- 

 gregate, and in tens of thousands, the flocks sometimes alight- 

 ing on the ground ; and generally passing the night in large 

 beds of reeds or osiers. 



Last of all the summer birds of passage, arrived the night-jar 

 (Nychtichelidon europae^us), the loud hurre of which was first 

 heard here on May 1 5. This is early ; but they may possibly 

 have arrived a little before, as they are not common in this 

 immediate neighbourhood, though a few always make their 

 appearance. They are plentiful in the Coombe district; and 

 I have seen them in Dulwich woods, and upon Penge Com- 

 mon, within five miles of London.* 



To conclude : I did not, this season, observe any ring ousels, 

 nor pied flycatchers f (M. luctuosa). The former usually make 

 their appearance here about the middle of April; the latter 

 in the early part of that month, being one of the first summer 

 birds of passage. Query ^ Should this species, and albicollis, 

 range in the same minimum division as M. Grhola F 



The noting down the arrivals of our small summer visitants 

 has become a subject rather destitute of novelty ; but it is still 

 interesting to compare observations made in different parts 

 of the kingdom ; and, with this view, I have been induced to 

 offer the present communication. 



Tooting, Surrey, May 21. 1834. Edward Blyth. 



* [The nightjar was heard at Stanley Green on May 15. : it had probably 

 just arrived. It has no regular habitat here, as far as I am informed. 

 The bird arrived seems to be a solitary individual; at least I have not seen 

 its mate. It made a fearful clatter on the 15th and 17th, from 7 o'clock 

 in the evening until midnight. It was silent on the 16th, in the evening of 

 which day it was hovering about the garden. (W. B. Clarice y in a communi- 

 cation dated Stanley Greeny May 19. 1834.) See, in p. 156, other facts 

 from Mr. Clarke, on the habits and time of migration of the fern owl.] 



f Since writing the above, a field flycatcher's nest has been discovered 

 in the identical hole (of a large ivied poplar), in which three successive 

 nests of this bird were destroyed last year : see the Field Naturalist'' s Ma- 

 gazine for March 1834, p. 117. This is a most remarkable instance of 

 persevering attachment to a particular location, for I have no doubt what- 

 ever that these nests were all built by the same pair. — E, B. May 30. 

 1834. 



