SWALLOW 145 



about April 10, and the majority leave us about the first 

 week in October ; occasional stragglers may be seen 

 throughout the month." 



In the spring of 1844, Mr. M. Hutchinson, in his 

 remarks on the summer arrivals at Shooter's Hill, Kent, 

 says : " The early part of April was bleak and cheerless ; 

 but on the evening of the 15th the wind changed, and we 

 had a soft, steady breeze from the south-west. I felt 

 confident the morrow would bring with it some fresh 

 arrivals. I was not disappointed. As I crossed AVool- 

 wich Common under the opening eyelids of the morn of 

 the 16th, I met a pair of Swallows steering due west, 

 doubtless making the best of their way for the more 

 genial west of England. Their first appearance was 

 noted the same day at Eltham. In the spring of 1845, 

 on the afternoon of Sunday, April 6, I was surprised at 

 observing two Swallows comfortably hawking over the 

 pond to the east of Eltham Park. I did not notice 

 another Swallow till the 12th, and they did not arrive 

 in force before April 21 ; our own Swallows came on 

 May 2." 



Morris, in his British Birds, says : " Being at Milstead, 

 near Sittingbourne, Kent, I noticed in the course of a 

 walk by Torry Hill, a white bird on the wing, which 

 proved to be a young Swallow, when it settled on a rail, 

 where I shot at it sitting. White ones have also occurred 

 at Frinstead." 



Mr. Arthur Hussey, writing to the Zoologist, 1855, 

 says : " I have received information that, towards the 

 end of October, 1854, a white Swallow was killed in 

 the neighbourhood of Sandwich, having been observed 

 and pursued by several persons. The head, neck, and 

 upper parts of the back were a delicate silvery light 

 10 



