130 



comiiioiiC(Ml on April the liUli will be sufficient lo illiistrato 

 tlio Diodo of iirrival. 



On the 13tli and 14th i\\e jh'st ininiifiration reached Corn- 

 wnll and Devon, and was followed on the 15th by lighthouse 

 records from Hants and Sussex, accompanied by a slight 

 increase in Kent and a decrease in Somerset and Wilts, and 

 a further increase in Kent on the following day. On April 

 the 17th an increase was noted from Essex, Worcester, 

 Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshiro, with a 

 decrease in Surrey and Berks. On the 18th there was 

 a further increase in (^ornwall and a decrease in Hants 

 followed by another increase in Hnnts and Kent on the lUth 

 and 20th. 



On April the 21st there was a great increase in Cornwall, 

 Devon, Hants and Sussex, but a decrease in Berks and Surrey, 

 while on the following day an increase was evident in Kent, 

 Somerset, Surrey, Bucks, Bedford, Suffolk, Cambridge, 

 Shropshire, Cheshire and Yorkshire, and a decrease in Corn- 

 wall, Devon, Hants, Sussex and Wilts. These dates show 

 very clearly how each wave passed onwards, making way for 

 others to succeed it. On April the 2-4th a fresh immi- 

 gration was noted in Cornw^all, Somerset and AVilts, and the 

 following day Swallows were seen to arrive at the Kent 

 lights and there was an increase in Sussex and Dorset, but a 

 decrease in Devon and Somerset. 



Until the bth of May, by which time the birds had 

 settled down in most parts of the country and had begun 

 nesting-operations, there was practically no break in the 

 innnigrations. During the hitter half of the month fresh 

 contingents still continued to arrive, though it became more 

 difficult to trace their course; the main bodies landed on the 

 south-western seaboard counties on the l()th and 11th, 20th 

 and 2-4th. Late records were sent in from the Varne light- 

 vessel off Kent, between the 20th of May and the 10th of 

 June, and it seems prol)able that tlu^se referred to emigrating 

 birds, more especially as previous to May the 2()th they wen; 

 only noted at this light on two occasions, vi/. the 2.")ih of 

 -Vpril and llu- Olh of May. 



