141 



THE SAND-MARTIN. 



Cotile rij)aria (L.). 



DuRiXG the latter half of March the arrival of a few Sand- 

 Martins was recorded along the south coast between Devon 

 and Hants. These seem to have passed on rapidly to the 

 north and west, as birds were recorded in Anglesea on the 

 27th, in Brecon and Cheshire on the 29th, in Staffordshire on 

 the 31st, and in Shropshire, Derby, Yorkshire and Dumfries- 

 shire (in numbers) on April the 1st. It would thus appear 

 that the entire movement was confined to the more western 

 counties, as the species was not recorded either from Kent 

 or Essex until the 1st and 4th of April respectively. 



A marked increase in the south-west was noticeable on the 

 6th and 7th of April, and about 200 individuals were noted 

 in Cheshire on the latter date. 



During the second week of April the movements were 

 small and confined to the south-west and west, and hardly 

 any birds were observed in the east and south-east until the 

 1.5th, when some were noted at the Hants light and an in- 

 crease was recorded in Kent, Essex, Norfolk and Yorkshire. 



During the third week of April there was a slight increase 

 in the number of birds throughout the country, especially in 

 the south-eastern counties. During the following week larger 

 migratory movements were observed everywhere except in 

 the north, and many birds had become resident. 



During the first part of May several immigrations seem to 

 have passed across the country. On the 7th great numbers 

 of birds passed over the Isle of Man, and an increase was 

 recorded in Cumberland on the 9th. On the 10th another 

 migratory flock was observed passing the Isle of Man and on 

 the 11th a further increase was noted in Cumberland. 



