HIRUKDIXID.E. 57 



N.E. wind blowing at the time, the birds having 

 evidently a great difficulty in obtaining food and hunting 

 for it under any sheltered Avail or hedge. As long as 

 the wind kept in the N.E. they seemed unable to depart, 

 but directly it veered a point or two they were off. In 

 their migrations birds cannot fly with the wind dead abaft ; 

 they wait for a side wind which renders their passage easy, 

 and for tliis reason, no doubt, these House-Martins were 

 detained so long upon the coast. In South Devon and 

 Cornwall, House-Martins have been often seen as late in 

 the year as mid December. 



Swallow. Hirundo rustica, Linn. 



[Chimney-Swallow.] 



A summer migrant, generally distribntecl and abundant. Breeds. 



The Swallow arrives usually in the second or third week in April, but 

 stragglers were observed on March 2:2nd, Iboo, March IGth, 1862, March 

 ISth, 1S67, March Sth, 1881, and March lOth, 1882. We have also several 

 times seen Swallows in the first week of April in South Devon. They are 

 generally first noticed on the southern coast of the county, but as thej' tly at 

 a considerable elevation when migrating they may strike some distance 

 inland before descending, and are oltcn first seen flying over rivers and ponds. 

 Great numbers congregate on the South Coast in autumn preparatory to 

 their departure for the south, many not leaving until the end of October. 

 We have more than once seen young birds in jS^ovembcr, and shot one on 

 the 24th of that month in 1854. 



The Swallow is not so numerous within the City limits of Exeter as the 

 Martin, but atExmouth it is the most abundant of the two. It breeds in 

 barns and outhouses aud cottage chimneys, beginning to build soon after its 

 arrival, and rearing two broods in the season. 



White specimens occur rather frequently. A brood of buff-coloured 

 Swallows Avas hatched at Honiton some years before 1883, as we Avere 

 informed by Mrs. Parkin. Mr. E. A. S. Elliot shot a specimen with light 

 chestnut underjjarts on April 28th, 1887, at Thurlestone. This specimen 

 was examined and identified by Messrs H. E. Dresser and li. U. Sharpe. 



In few birds is the migratory instinct so strongly developed as in this 

 favourite companion of our English summer, whicli, i)erha])s, maj' claim 

 with the common Stork to have enjoyed the closest observation and study*. 

 It has been ascertained over and over again that the same Swallows return 

 year after year to the same homes, and wo can well remember, when 



* Jtreuiiali, viii. 7. 



