SWALLOW. 245 



months; and retiring in parties and broods towards the 

 south at the decline of the year ; so that the Rock of 

 Gibraltar is the great rendezvous and place of observation, 

 from whence they take their departure each way towards 

 Europe and Africa." It is very much to be regretted that 

 the Natural History of Gibraltar, written by the Rev. 

 John White, who lived there for some years, and whose 

 MS. is referred to by Gilbert White, in his fifty-third 

 letter to Daines Barrington, was never published. 



To show the course pursued to the northward by some 

 of those birds from western Africa, after crossing the 

 Mediterranean opposite Gibraltar, where the passage is 

 only from four to five miles wide, I may quote Mr. 

 Hewitson, who says, that on his voyage of return from 

 Madeira at the beginning of April, 1842, " whilst keeping 

 near the coast of Spain, the deck of the steamer was a 

 perfect levee daily, and a scene of the liveliest interest. 

 Whilst the Chimney Swallow and the Sand Martin con- 

 tinued to fly round and round us, Wheatears, Whinchats, 

 various species of warblers, Redstarts, Red-backed Shrikes, 

 &c., were 'constantly passing, each appearing to me as if 

 it had put on its gayest apparel for the occasion." 



Bewick, in the introduction to his History of British 

 Birds, says that an intelligent master of a vessel told him, 

 that whilst he was sailing early in the spring between the 

 islands of Minorca and Majorca, he saw great numbers of 

 Swallows flying northwards, many of which, from fatigue, 

 alighted on the rigging of the ship in the evening, but dis- 

 appeared before morning. The author of the Natural 

 History of Arragon says they arrive there very early in 

 the spring. In the direct line of their northern course, 

 and having passed over France, Sir Charles Wager says, 

 ''' In the spring of the year, as I came into soundings in 

 our Channel, a great flock of Swallows came and settled 



