Field Notes. 
9i 
to arrive at a fairly correct answer ; based on the records 
of the departures of the Swallows from South Africa, and from 
their arrivals here I venture to say that it is about a calendar 
month, or very little more ; which means that the birds 
must keep up an average speed of about 150 miles per day, 
during their vernal migration. Cape Town is 5,979 miles 
by steamer from Southampton. 
I should not like to conclude a paper on bird-migration 
without a reference to Dr. Wm. Eagle Clarke, who is probably 
the greatest authority on this subject, past or present. He is 
a Yorkshireman, a Past President, Hon. Secretary, and at one 
time or other a holder of every official position in the 
Vertebrate Zoology Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ 
Union, besides having been joint editor of The Naturalist 
and of the ‘ Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire.’ I have learned 
much on bird migration from his writings, particularly from 
his two volumes on ‘ Studies in Bird Migration,’ as all who 
are interested in this subject will have done. 
In conclusion, I must express my thanks to the Hull 
Museum Authorities for providing a number of large maps to 
illustrate migration routes, etc., which I understand they had 
borrowed from the publishers of The Naturalist. 
: o : 
Early nesting Robin. — A robin’s nest with four eggs was 
found in an outhouse at the Union Workhouse, York. After 
the bird had sat for a week, the snowstorm of January 15th 
filled the nest and caused the robins to desert it. — Sydney H. 
Smith, January 17th 1922. 
Bittern in East Yorks. — A fine Bittern was caught alive 
on the troutstream between Driffield and Bridlington last 
week. It was in difficulties with a large trout, which it was 
endeavouring to swallow, when a carrier captured it and 
brought it to Bridlington, where it was kept alive in a stable. 
It is now in Mr. St. Ouintin’s Bird Refuge. — H. M. Foster, 
January 23rd, 1922. 
Shag at York. — Further to my previous note (Naturalist, 
February, 1922), another shag, a mature female, has been 
obtained on January nth, at York, being found on the River 
Ouse bank, close to the Guildhall in the City, and was choked 
by a large roach that was firmly fixed in the gullet. Another 
was killed at Pocklington about January 6th. All three birds 
are in the hands of Mr. Allen, the York taxidermist, and if 
any Yorkshire Museum would like one, I am in a position to 
pass one specimen along to it.* — Sydney H. Smith, January 
14th, 1922. 
1922 Mar. 1 
* Many thanks. — E d. 
