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THE HOUSE-MARTIN. 



Chelidon urhica (L.). 



The earliest records of the House-Martin in the spring of 

 1908 were based on single individuals which were noted in 

 Wiltshire and Gloucestershire on the 2nd and 3rd of April. 

 On the 4th and Gth small parties were seen in Cornwall and 

 Devon, and on the 10th and 16th stragglers were noted in 

 Kent, Essex and Suffolk. 



A small immigration, which took place in the west between 

 the 18th and 20th, passed on into Wales and the western 

 counties, but it was not until the 27th that the main body of 

 this species began to arrive. On that day they were noted 

 in Surrey, Middlesex, Glamorgan and Shropshire, and by 

 the 30th they had begun to arrive in all the southern 

 counties, while many had already penetrated as far north as 

 Yorkshire and Westmoreland. On the 1st May an increase 

 was noted in the east, but it was not clear whether these 

 birds were fresh arrivals, or were merely individuals, which 

 had reached this country in the west, moving in an easterly 

 direction. 



On the 2nd of May there was again a general increase 

 throughout the southern counties, and numerous records 

 were received from all parts of the country, showing that the 

 earlier arrivals were settling down in their summer-quarters. 



During the three following days House-Martins continued 

 to arrive in the south-west and south, and spread throughout 

 the country in a north to north-easterly direction, some 

 leaving the country by the east coast. From the 7th to the 

 10th the migration still continued, the various ' waves ' being 

 usually noted a day later in the east than in the west, and 

 by the 10th the great majority had settled down in their 

 summer-quarters. 



Further immigrations took place between the 11th and 

 I'.mIi and on the 2Gth, and it is probable that small parties 



