129 



THE SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustka L. 



The Swallow is so well known, and its advent is so generally 

 looked £oi', that the records of its arrival are more complete 

 than those of: any other species, and it is therefore compara- 

 tively easy to trace the arrival and dispersal of the various 

 immigrations through the country. 



Tempted most probably by the fine weather in the spring 

 of 1907 the first arrivals were earlier than usual. The species 

 was first recorded from Leicestershire and Denbigh on 

 March the 27th, and between the 29th and 31st scattered 

 stragglers were noted in Cornwall, Hants, Berks, Mont- 

 gomery, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Dumfries. 



It seems probable that these early arrivals followed a 

 westerly course ; but, with the exception of the two indivi- 

 duals seen in Cornwall on the 29th, we have no record of 

 their actual route. 



During April and May Sw^dlows continued to appear 

 almost daily along the whole of the western half of the south 

 coast, each immigration arriving first in Cornwall and Devon, 

 then in Hants, and subsequently in the south-eastern counties. 



During the first half of April the birds appear to have 

 remained chiefly in the south-western and western counties, 

 those seen in the other counties being merely solitary strag- 

 glers ; but from the 15th of April onwards their distribution 

 became more general, and the contingents landing in the 

 south-west passed on to the north and north-east in rapid 

 succession. 



The immigration was so sustained and coniinuous that it 

 would serve no good purpose to trace each successive move- 

 ment, and iho following nummary of the earlier oue^ whieh 



