97 



THE SAND-MAETIN. 



Gotile riparia (L.) 



Although not so well recorded as those of the Swallow 

 and House-Martin^ the movements of the Sand-Martin 

 have been sufl8.ciently well noted to enable its entrance 

 into, and its course through this country to be traced with 

 fair accuracy. 



Contrary to what its winter distribution would lead one 

 to expect, the bird appears to arrive almost entirely on 

 the western half of the south coast. 



It seems to migrate in flocks of a fairly large size, and 

 the records show that these flocks travel independently of 

 one another. 



The first marked immigration, which was preceded by 

 the appearance of a few stragglers, was noticed in Somerset 

 on March 27th and in Devon on the following day. The 

 bulk of these birds appear to have spread quickly north- 

 wards with a slight easterly trend, reaching Derby and 

 Cheshire in numbers on March 30th, while a few were 

 noted in Lancashire on April 1st and in Northumberland 

 on April 3rd. 



A few birds also arrived in Dorset, Sussex and Cambridge 

 on April 1st and 2nd, and these birds appear to have come 

 in at various points on the coast between Devon and 

 Sussex. 



The second immigration occurred in Devon on April 4th, 

 while on the 5th a large number of birds was noted in 

 Essex, and it seems probable that these arrived somewhere 

 in Hampshire or Sussex and passed quickly on to Essex, 

 where they remained for a fortnight. A large number of 

 the Devon immigrants evidently spread northwards, passing 

 into Shropshire on the 6th, Cheshire on the 8th, and reacli- 



