MIGRATION IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 2/7 



more abundant in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and other 

 parts of the Midlands at that season than they 

 normally are in Devonshire. Before proceeding to 

 give the general aspects of spring and autumn 

 migration in the county, and more particularly in 

 our own immediate neighbourhood, we would 

 mention that Messrs. D'Urban and Mathew have 

 expressed the deliberate opinion, in their work on 

 the Birds of Devon already alluded to, that some 

 of our summer migrants appear in the northern 

 parts of the county before they do in the south. 

 The Cuckoo and the House Martin are given as 

 instances. So far as we can gather, this opinion is 

 based upon the fact that the former bird is some- 

 times heard north of Dartmoor before it is heard 

 at Exmouth. We are at a loss to see how such a 

 conclusion can logically be drawn from this cir- 

 cumstance, which may be much more reasonably 

 explained by the fact that the bird's note was 

 detected by a competent observer in the north 

 before it chanced to be heard in the south. The 

 latter bird is said to reach Exeter before it appears 

 at Exmouth, some ten miles to the south-east, but 

 this surely is another case of the bird being over- 

 looked ; or it may be that the Exeter Martins 



