PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



iilong the Hanks. On the tarso-meta-tarsus, just above the hind toe, IB a tuft of pale 

 buff-coloured feathers. The female differs from the male in having a somewhat 

 narrower band across the fore-breast. The juvenile plumage differs from that of 

 the adult in having the wing-covert* tipped with rufous, and broad huff-margins 

 to the inner secondaries, [w. p. p.] 



a. Distribution. A widely distributed species, which is found in the 

 breeding season over the whole of Europe, from 70 N. to the Mediterranean, as 

 well as in Northern Asia and North America, while local races (as yet imperfectly 

 known) occur in Japan and Kamtochatka, N.E. Siberia, and N.E. Africa. An 

 allied species, R. paludicola (Vieill), however, to a great extent replaces it in Africa. 

 In the British Isles its distribution is regulated by the presence or absence of 

 breeding sites, but on the whole it is common and fairly general, breeding in most 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland. It also nests occasionally on the Orkneys in 

 small numbers, and has bred on at least one occasion in the Shetland*. A few 

 pairs nest on Skye and on some of the Inner Hebrides. In Ireland it is very 

 general, and more numerous than the house-martin. European and Asiatic birds 

 winter in Southern Asia (India, China, etc.), and Central to South-eastern Africa, 

 the principal movement being along the east side of this continent. They do not 

 range farther south than the Transvaal. North American birds winter in South 

 America, [r. c . K. .r. ) 



3. Migration. A summer visitor. It resembles its allies in arriving first 

 and chiefly on the western half of the south coast of England (B. O. C. Migration 

 Reports, i.-v.). Its movement*, indeed, closely correspond to those of the swallow, 

 both in spring and in autumn, so far as they are accurately understood. In 

 spring, however, the sand-martin is considerably earlier than the swallow : an 

 exceptionally early bird was seen in Yorkshire on 29th February 1886 (cf. Nelson, 

 B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 161). And in the same year the sand-martin and its two 

 allies suffered terrible mortality all over the country from a severe snowstorm 

 which occurred in the second week of May (cf. Naturalist, 1886, p. 182). The 

 autumn emigration is also earlier than in the case of the other two species, and is 

 nearly over before the end of September, stragglers being recorded for some time 

 later (cf. B. O. C. Migration Reports, iv. p. 194 ; v. pp. 261-2). There are some 

 records very suggestive of a passage from Northern Europe through the eastern 

 part of our area, although definite proof is lacking (cf. Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. 

 Hist., 1907, p. 77 ; and Ibis, 1904, p. 138). The migratory habits of the species 

 are similar to those of its allies. [A. L. T.] 



