268 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
friend Mr. H. C. Playne noted its arrival near Bristol on April 6th, 1894— 
and I find one or two very early dates in the records of the Natural History 
Society of Marlborough College. Gilbert White, in his Fifty-first Letter, 
makes it clear that he expected Martins to arrive in Hampshire by April 
llth. During the last few years it has gradually grown upon me that the 
Martins do not appear so soon as I should have expected, and I have in 
consequence brought together my records for the last ten years (unluckily 
not quite complete) to determine what truth there may be in this. I may 
say that I arrive at Oxford for the term about the middle of April, and that 
on arriving I invariably search the favourite places which the Swallows and 
Martins affect as soon as they reach us. Iam not therefore likely to miss 
them if they are here. Mr. O. V. Aplin has kindly sent me a list of 
records which go back beyond my own, which he allows me to publish. All 
his but one are from the neighbourhood of Banbury, and the one exception 
(1896) is from Nettlebed, in the Chilterns. He was abroad in 1893 and 
1895, and for the former year I unfortunately have no record, nor have I 
been able to obtain one from any ornithological friend. The following table 
will show our respective observations :— 
On Vea W. W. F. 
TOS), Mary: Tet... cccceyssnesmesn — 
1882, April 19th. cess. eccesee — 
£898; Ager 26th gure cekeee. — 
1884, Mary 3rd 2.00 i0 cece ssoinae — 
1885, ApEn Wie se o.cerasencns — 
1886, April 23rd ........0..0006 — 
1BBT, April Bona inves stecayoss = 
1866, April 28a. wna penn April 20th (several). 
1889, May 2nd in. ....cccceserene — 
1890, May 3rd...............00 April 21st (one). 
1694, April 240i oc iecsra tons April 26th. 
1892, April 24th ............... April 26th. 
1893, met) | Mes dhe nidae ane ts ams 
1894, May. 7th occ cecsnescttane May Ist. 
e pie) Ma agpe casupeemaeers (April 13th, at Bordighera), 
1896, April 26th ...........000. May 9th. 
1897, April 25th ..........e000- April 30th. 
1898, April 30th ..........ee00- April 29th. 
The results of this table, so far as they go, may perhaps be stated as 
follows :—1. The irregularity of the movements of this species comes out 
distinctly, for we have a range of first appearances extending from April 
17th to May 9th. In Mr. Murray A. Mathew’s ‘ Birds of Devon’ I find a 
still longer range recorded, for in 1874 he noted the appearance of two 
Martins on April 2nd, while in 1891 none were seen till May 14th. This 
is possibly due to a double wave of migration from Africa, for Col. Irby, in 
his ‘ Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,’ tells us that Martins cross the 
Straits both in February and April; and it may be that only a few of the 
