90 Booth : Migration of the Common Swallow . 
north-west ; the Wagtail from west to east ; the Woodcock 
from south-west to north-east ; the Cuckoo from south-east 
to north-west, etc. All positive facts which it would have been 
impossible to establish by the old method/ 
‘ And if you ask me what we have determined by our 
method, I answer as follows : we know that the Swallow 
settles in the areas of Europe from Gibraltar to Lulea (in north- 
ern Sweden) in 105 days ; that the young Swallows are already 
fledged in Gibraltar, when + he old ones for Lulea only arrive ; 
that the settling of Hungary may last as long as 70 days ; 
that the Swallow remains here on an average 167 days/ 
Dr. Herman then advocates that their scheme should be 
undertaken on international lines. Dr. Herman compares the 
settling of the Swallows in the spring with ‘ the scattering of 
the seeds by the sower/ I always picture the advancing 
Swallows from the south of Europe to the north as resembling 
the incoming tide. Wave succeeds wave, and every now and 
then a larger wave will carry the waters much further than the 
average. Where the shore is level and shallow, the waves 
advance with much greater rapidity than where there are lesser 
or greater obstructions. 
To quote ‘ A Monograph of the Swallows ’ again (p. 223), 
‘ In southern Russia, according to Von Nordman, the Swallow 
appears as early as the 8th of April, and he considers that the 
time of arrival in south Russia is at least from 16 to 20 days in 
advance of their advent at St. Petersburg/ The Swallow 
nests almost all over Europe, and in Scandinavia, within the 
Arctic Circle ; but not in Iceland. H. W. Wheelwright, 
‘ An Old Bushman/ in ‘ A Spring and Summer in Lapland/ 
p. 281, writes : — ‘ We had the Swallows, Common Martin, and 
the Bank Martin (at Quickiock, within the Arctic Circle) more 
common, I think, up here than even in Wermland ’ (in southern 
Sweden). 
Let us now briefly consider the geographical position of 
the Common Swallow, say in the middle of April. The advance 
guard, and more particularly the early stragglers, are pouring 
into England ; into Yorkshire, and even into Scotland. The 
rearguard, and particularly the laggards, have only just left 
South Africa, and are still present in the Transvaal and in 
Rhodesia. In north-west Africa and in south-west Europe 
the young are already hatched, and the birds that nest in 
northern Europe have not yet arrived and settled down ! 
In the vast area north of the Transvaal to the northern limit 
of the areas mentioned, each day parties of Swallows are 
hurrying northwards, to reach the home where they were 
hatched. It may be asked how long it takes a Swallow to 
travel from South Africa to northern Europe. The only answer 
I can give is merely a guess ; but for many years I have tried 
Naturalist 
