158 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



" The Martin and the Swallow, 

 Are God Almighty's bow and arrow." 



The only vernacular names are Fork-tailed Swallow, 

 Chimney Swallow, and Barn Swallow. 



HOUSE MARTIN. 



Chelidon urbica (L.). 



Summer visitant, abundant, generally distributed. Arrives late 

 in April and leaves in September, stragglers occasionally remaining 

 until November or December. 



The first reference to this species as a county bird is 

 contained in a letter from Mr. Bolton, near Halifax, dated 

 30th August 1794, and runs as follows : — 



" In the latter end of August 1779, some boys beat down 

 a Martin's nest, with young. The birds built anew for 

 another brood, which had but just learned the use of their 

 wings, when their congeners took leave. Several times in 

 the course of the winter I have seen sometimes one, sometimes 

 two, flying about, the weather was mild, and the sun shined 

 warm ; and after the 25th of March they were constantly 

 to be seen on fine days." (Latham, " Gen. Hist. Birds," 1823, 

 vii., note to p. 278.) 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : — 



Hirundo urbica. — The Martin — Common in most districts, but 

 Arthur Strickland remarks " There seem few birds less disturbed 

 in their nidilication than this, notwithstanding it appears to me to have 

 greatly diminished in numbers of late years ; many houses I remember 

 annually abounding with their nests now hardly possess more than two 

 or three." I think the same remark applies to the neighbourhood 

 of York. 



The House Martin arrives a little later in spring than the 

 Sw^allow and, as a general rule, in the third week of April ; 

 in the south of the county it is somewhat earlier, the 14th 

 of April being the average date of its appearance, but in most 



