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Bird Notes and News 



disposed to think that the reason why 

 our Swallows and Martins continued to 

 decrease in numbers after the persecution 

 in France had ceased, and after an increase 

 in their numbers had been noticed there, 

 is due to the weather which we have 

 experienced in recent Springs. As an 

 example, I have looked up the tempera- 

 tures recorded here from March 31st to 

 May 10th of the year 1917. In these 

 weeks, there were only eight nights 

 in which the exposed mercury did not 

 fall to the freezing point. It fell to 

 — 1° on the night of April 1st, to 10° on 

 the 5th, to 20° on the 11th, and to 22° on 

 the 15th, 16th. On the first six nights of 

 May it fell to the freezing point, or below. 

 There were 10 degrees of frost on the 

 night of May 7th, and the weather did 

 not improve till May 11th. (A few 

 Swallows were seen on April 28th, and 

 the Cuckoo was first heard on the 30th.) 

 I have no information as to the tempera- 

 tures noted in other parts of this country, 

 or in France, during the Spring of 1917. 



Along the favoured Cote d'Azur, the 

 migrants sometimes find that they have 

 arrived too soon ! " Even at Marseilles," 

 Dr. Seipi writes, " it sometimes happens 

 that, just as the Swallows arrive, there 

 is a sudden drop in the temperature, 

 caused by the mistral, the icy north- 

 east wind. One may see the birds 

 collected in great numbers on the ledges 

 of buildings, where they wait for an 

 improvement of the weather, or death. 

 Once during a mistral which raged for 

 several days, hundreds of Swallows 

 gathered about the neighbouring build- 

 ings ; and some found their way into 

 the lofts of the Museum, where I myself, 

 in two days, gathered 62 corpses." 

 " It is certain," he goes on, " that at 

 that time great numbers of these birds 

 must have perished in our region." 



M. Soubeiran says in the letter from 

 which I have already quoted, " I wonder 

 if we must not attribute the diminution 

 in the number of these birds to the cold 

 weather which we so often experience in 

 Spring ? The Swallows arrive here during 

 the first fine days of March. Then 



suddenly even in April we have frosts. 

 How many times have I not seen these 

 birds in terrible weather, come to take 

 refuge in the yards and stables, where 

 they vainly seek food, which they do not 

 find ; tired by a long journey, and 

 finding nothing to eat, they soon die." 



Last Spring, 1922, we had some very 

 unpleasant weather at Hyeres, and much 

 mistral. The Swallows, etc., arrived in 

 " rushes." On April 5th, quantities of 

 House-Martins and a few Swallows were 

 in the town and the surrounding country 

 till midday, when they passed on. On 

 the 17th there must have been many 

 thousands of Swallows (only) near the 

 sea, and about the town ; and everywhere 

 where I was that day, say three miles 

 square, there were no visible insects 

 flying, but a bitter wind, and the birds 

 were hunting up and down behind 

 buildings and trees, wherever some shelter 

 could be found. 



On the 25th there was a very bad 

 mistral ; on the 26th about 60 Common 

 Swifts, four Alpine Swifts, and many 

 hundreds of House Martins were flying 

 about our hotel, which faces the saltpan 

 and sea beyond. They had evidently 

 just arrived. By 9 a.m. they had all 

 passed on. During these weeks the local 

 papers were reporting weather which was 

 seriously affecting the crops, and travellers 

 described snowstorms through Central 

 France, and sometimes snow lying along 

 the line, as far south as Avignon. The 

 destruction of delicate birds of passage 

 last Spring in France must have been 

 deplorable. This Spring the birds were 

 constantly coming in from March 27th 

 to April 22nd, when I left Hyeres, but 

 with much more favourable weather. 



It is early yet to judge how our migrants 

 have fared since they reached us this 

 Spring. But birds that catch their insect 

 prey on the wing, must often have had 

 difiiculty in providing for themselves, and 

 still more for their hungry broods, during 

 the past few weeks. 



W. H. St. Quintin. 



(E. Yorks.) 

 21th June, 1923. 



