119 



THE HOUSE-MARTIN. 



Chelidon iirhiea (L.). 



The Honse-Martin arrived along the whole o£ the south coast, 

 l)nt in oreatest numbers on its western half. One that had 

 evidently remained throughout the winter was seen at 

 Hampton Court on the 10th of January. 



The earliest arrival reported was in Sussex on the 25th of 

 March, several others being seen in the same county on the 

 following day. From the 26th of March until the 16th of 

 April small numbers arrived, almost entirely in the west, an 

 early straggler reaching Northumberland on the 8th, while 

 others reached the Midlands and Yorkshire by the 13tli and 

 15th. Somewhat larger numbers arrived in Devonshire and 

 Hampshire on the 17th and in Sussex on the 20th, but the 

 main immigration seems to have started on the 25th and, 

 with the exception of the 28th, continued daily until the 12th 

 of May. Arrivals took place daily in Devonshire and irregu- 

 larly along the rest of the south coast, very few coming in to 

 the east of Hampshire. Most of the summer-residents for 

 the eastern counties seem to have been included in the 

 portions of this movement that arrived between Hampshire 

 and Kent on the 5th, 9th, 10th and 11th of May. At the 

 time this large immigration was taking place many House- 

 Martins had already begun to nest, as was recorded, in 

 Westmoreland on the 30th of April, in Yorkshire on the 

 2nd of May, in Wiltshire on the 3rd, in Suffolk on the 8th, 

 in Eadnor and Derbyshire on the 10th, in Warwickshire and 

 Lincolnshire on the loth, and in Hertfordshire, Herefordshire 

 and Lancashire on the 20th. Fluctuatino; numbers in the 



