1923- S'oies. 41 



the birds would rise and follow their mates. I was rathi^r surprised to 

 find such numbers migrating at this early date, but I see [British Birds. 

 xvi. p. 134) that Dr. N. H. Joy had a somewhat similar experience earlier 

 in the month at Selsey Bill. 



Exactly a month later, on September 20, I was at Ballygeary (Rosslare 

 Harbour) and at noon started to walk along the shore towards Greenore 

 Point. I at once noticed parties of Swallows, passing along between the 

 cliffs and the tide-line, but now they were going north. About a quarter 

 of a mile south-east of the pier, I found the stream, which was now con- 

 tinuous and not intermittent, coming from inland and striking the coast 

 at an acute angle. I climbed the cliff at that point and found the birds 

 coming overland from about south-south-west. For about fifteen or twenty 

 minutes the air was alive with birds and over the land the stream, about 

 20 yards wide, was just as well defined as when the birds v/eie flying along 

 the shore. At this time, about i p.m., the stream was at its greatest 

 density and was continuous, but then it began to be divided up into 

 distinct parties and gradually died off about 2.30 p.m., after which I saw 

 no birds coming up from the south. Up to 1.30 p.m. all birds were going 

 north, but then I noticed a few birds coming along, outside the main stream 

 and going south. These were the van of a new stream flying from north to 

 south, and for about half an hour I watched the two streams passing one 

 another along the shore. This new stream, however, never attained the 

 same dimensions as the northward-bound one, and instead of turning 

 inland where the other was emerging, it continued along shore, so after 

 a time I followed it up and found the birds gathering at Greenore Point. 

 On the north side of this point the birds were flying around in more or 

 less circles, and kept on increasing in numbers, but when I turned the 

 point to the southward not a bird was visible. After a time I noticed 

 some birds, but still comparatively few, launching themselves off over 

 the sea in the direction of, but slightly north of the Tuskar. A few of 

 these birds, when a little way out to sea, returned to land, but the others 

 kept on out of sight. Having watched them for some time and seeing 

 no sign of an immediate departure, for the birds that did go only formed 

 a very small percentage of those flying about, I decided to walk on to 

 Ballytrent to see if I could find any birds along that part of the coast, 

 but I did not see a single Swallow the whole way. So I returned to Greenore 

 Point and found to my great disappointment that all the birds had gone 

 during my absence, not a single Swallow to be seen anywhere, nor did I 

 see any further movement of birds that evening, but there were a few 

 " locals " flying around in Ballygeary later. Of course I cannot say 

 definitely that these birds, numbering several hundreds when I left Greenore, 

 set out on their cross-channel journey from that point, as I did not actually 

 see them go, though I did see some. They may have gone north again, 

 but they certainly did not come south, and I think it is a fair inference 

 to make that they used Greenore Point that afternoon as a " jumping off " 

 place, and they must have left it between 3.15 p.m. and 4 p.m. On 

 September 28, I walked from Rosslare Strand to Ballygeary along the 

 shore. Most of the way I saw no Swallows, but when nearing the latter 



