THE COMMON SWALLOW. 387 



a good deal of frost. In 1835 a swallow was remarked on the 26th 

 Oct. near the town just named; and on the 3rd of Nov., 1837, 

 Mr. H. Dombrain of Dublin shot one at sea near Lambay Island, 

 when it was flying towards land. For several days during the week 

 immediately before Christmas — from the 18th to the 24th Dec. — 

 1842, a number of swallows were seen about the village of Holy- 

 wood and elsewhere on the borders of Belfast bay, where from 

 the novelty of then occurrence at such a season they excited much 

 interest. The latest period at which these birds have been ob- 

 served by Mr. Poole in the south, was on the 5th of December, 

 the same year, when he saw two fly above the main street in 

 Wexford, the weather being moist, and remarkably warm for the 

 season : — he has not met with them there after the 10th of Nov., 

 (1844) on any other occasion. On the 28th of November, 1845, 

 an adult bird was seen on the border of Belfast bay. In 1846, a 

 swallow was observed at an inland locality near the town, and on 

 the 16th and 17th of the month, single birds appeared at diffe- 

 rent places near the margin of the bay. At the end of November, 

 1847, one was remarked at Castle Warren, co. Cork. 



Seen on migration ; on the Continent, Sfc. In the years 1811, 

 1812, and 1813, when my friend Dr. J. L. Drummond, of Bel- 

 fast, was surgeon in H.M.S. San Juan, then anchored close to 

 the New Mole at Gibraltar, he each year, both in spring and 

 autumn, saw " swallows " (the species of which is not now 

 remembered) every day during a few weeks at the former season 

 flying northward, and at the latter southward. They kept flying 

 throughout the day, and invariably in autumn as well as spring 

 were in little parties, not more than three or four being generally 

 together.* In the course of a tour which I made in the year 



* Capt. Cook, in his Sketches in Spain, remarks of the Hirundo rustica, that " a 

 few of these birds winter in the south of Andalusia. I saw them on the summit of 

 the Lomo de Vaca, far from the haunt of man, living with the H. rupestris " — a 

 species which, according to the same author, " winters in great numbers along the 

 southern shore [of Spain] ." Dr. Wilde states that when in the desert between the 

 pyramids of Gaza and Dashoor at the end of January, — " the swallow tribe were 

 in great plenty ; the red-breasted swallow and the small grey martin particularly 

 attracted our notice. I find that these little birds do not migrate like the swifts 

 (which, however, do not approach this part of the country,) but remain all the year 

 round in the vicinity of the pyramids." — Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, the 

 Mediterranean, including a visit to Egypt, Sec., 2nd Ed. p. 252. 



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