BIRDS 129 



The Pied Flycatcher does not delay the commencement of its 

 southern journey long, after the young are strong on the wing 

 and have exchanged the speckled nest-feathers for the incon- 

 spicuous garb of their first winter. This Flycatcher is almost 

 unheard of in the neighbourhood of our coast-line. Stragglers 

 have been obtained near the Solway Firth in a few instances ; 

 at Silloth, for example, and near Allonby. 



Order PASSERES. Fam. HIRUNDINIDjE. 



SWALLOW. 



Hirundo rustica, L. 



The return of the Swallows to Lakeland always affords a 

 pleasurable interest, just as we feel a pang of regret when they 

 hawk in busy swarms above the cornfields prior to their departure. 

 Before telegraph wires were introduced, this Swallow chiefly 

 roosted in the trees which grew beside our ponds and becks, 

 indeed there can be little doubt that this species was originally 

 arboreal in its choice of a breeding site. On September 4, 1888, 

 I was amused to see a meddling Eook completely routed by a 

 party of Swallows. The Rook desired to visit the trees in 

 which the Swallows had gathered ; but as often as the Rook 

 approached, the Swallows turned out and mobbed him. He 

 repeated the manoeuvre again and again, but always fled from the 

 attacks of his tiny adversaries, and ultimately flew away in 

 sulky discomfiture. The earliest arrival of this species as yet 

 substantiated in the Lake district was a bird shot near White- 

 haven on April 2, 1837. Mr. T. C. Heysham wrote to the late 

 Mr. R. Bell, on April 15, 1852: 'I have been informed, on 

 what I consider very good authority, that a House Swallow, 

 H. rustica, was seen in this neighbourhood [Carlisle] on the 26th 

 and 27th of March, a very early arrival.' 



MARTIN. 



Chelidon urbica (L.). 



The House Martin appears to have been a special favourite with 

 Dr. Heysham, who fills near a column with notes on the Martin's 



