390 ^ year's weather. 



The Rev. Fred. E. Gutteres, Nymet Rowland Rectory, 

 Lapford, North Devon, gives me the sandmartin's first appearance 

 as March 19th ; mine was April 7th. The latter date agrees with 

 its first appearance in the North of England. Mr. Gutteres, in 

 the presence of a friend, saw three of them above the Taw, later 

 in the afternoon they saw four, and then did not see the bird again 

 for three weeks. From the 14th to the 20th of April is the usual 

 time to notice their earliest arrival in North Devon, but this 

 gentleman tells me that he saw his first martin in 1 886 at the same 

 spot as this year on March 26th. This early appearance and 

 disappearance of these birds have led many to think that they 

 hybernate. Such a thing is impossible j and, in addition, birds 

 feeding on insects require an almost constant supply of food ; to 

 meet this demand, when insects are scarce they try new localities, 

 disappearing for a time from where first seen. 



One word about the plants. The hawthorn this year is 

 unusually prolific in flower, not only with us but in many other 

 places where I have seen it, from the Lizard up to Newquay. 

 In some cases not a trace of leaf [scarcely to be seen. May I call 

 this the hawthorn year, and does it mean a dry hot summer ? 



Weather for May 1792 (100 years ago), — 2nd, ground 

 strewed with leaves and bloom by the hail-storms ; 4th and ^th, 

 keen morning frosts 3 12th, ice in the morning, early potatoes 

 injured i i6th, hawthorn in bloom} 19th, laburnum and honey- 

 suckle in bloom 5 2ist, landrail heard. The air of the month is 

 generally raw and cold. A show of fruit, but much injured by 

 weather. Cattle that lie out seemed starved, some have been sick, 

 occasioned as supposed by cold. Milch cows fail in milk. Fall 

 of rain 3 '40 inches. 



Tune 25th, 1892. 



JUNE. 



With a rainfall of 183 inches, June was comparatively 

 dry • last year we had one inch more rain during the month than 

 this. The rain fell on eleven days, but except on three of these, 

 the rainfall was very slight. The heaviest day's rain was on the 

 ist, with eight- tenths of an inchj and, singularly, last year, on the 

 1st of June, we had one inch of rain. It was a month of sunshine. 

 The sura was visible on every day except one. Day after day 



