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showers. On the 25th rain fell heavily, followed, at 7 a.ni. on the 
26th, by a little deluge with much thunder in the distance. 
Two young Hawfinches, with a strong predilection for green 
peas, were trapped at Keswick. 
The first gathering of House ]\rartins prior to quitting this 
neighbourhood, at least, was witnessed at 7 a.m. on the 10th, when 
about a hundred of these birds congregated on the lofty roof of the 
chapel opposite my house and were gone, all but a dozen, by nine 
o’clock. Only a few, still feeding young ones, were seen about till 
the afternoon of the 26th, when over fifty assembled at the same 
rendezvous, and again some thirty or forty appeared together on the 
afternoon of the 31st. I think, probably, that in this month 
House Martins, as a rule, with their early broods, flock together in 
large numbers, taking advantage of some lofty building— as 
Sand Martins do of the telegraph wires near their haunts — to 
collect their forces, and that these, dispersing for food during the 
day, roost in accumulating flocks upon the reeds and osiers 
adjoining our rivers till the period arrives for a general departure. 
With reference, however, to the first great assembly of these birds 
on the 10 th of August, it is worth noting that the following state- 
ment appeared in a German newspaper drawing attention to the 
early departure this season of Swallows and IMartins and giving 
the 8th of September as the more usual date; — “already by 
August 10th it was observed all over Korth-Western Germany that 
those of the House Swallows whose broods were fully fledged were 
visibly preparing for their flight ; most of the other Swallows had 
already preceded them.” Between the 21st and 30 th, amongst 
summer warblers still frequenting my garden I noticed, the Willow 
Wren, Nightingale, Kedstart, and Chiffchaff, the latter in full song 
on one occasion. 
Thanks to the notes and observations of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 
we know that the same extraordinary migration of Eedstarts and 
Wheatears, at the end of this month, which Mr. Cordeaux records 
(‘ Zoologist,’ 1880, p. 486) from the Humber district occurred, also, 
on the Norfolk coast, the largest number seen, in the neighbour- 
hood of Cromer, appearing on the 29th, 30th, and 31st, but the 
Wheatears in far greater abundance than the Eedstarts. Of the 
latter, on the two last days, Mr. Gurney saw about 200, at Cromer, 
Northrepps, and Gunton, yet, of this species, only a few pairs are 
