100 
MIGRATION OR SWALLOWS AND MARTINS. May, 1889. 
interesting. But before I go on to describe this, I will just 
state what I consider to be the explanation of the migration 
I saw in 1887. 
I left Dorset that year on September 25th, and spent a 
few days in Devonshire, partly at Crediton, partly near 
Bideford. I looked carefullv wherever I went for Swallows 
t / 
and Martins, but with the exception of half a dozen lingerers 
at Bideford, which is warm and sheltered, I saw none ; the 
country was completely deserted by them. I think, therefore, 
that the great procession I saw at Lulworth must have 
consisted of the birds of Cornwall, Devon, and perhaps of 
Somerset (possibly also of South Wales), who were following 
the coast-line as a guide, and proceeding along it until they 
should reach a point where it would be convenient to cross 
the sea. It is a pretty well-known fact that the Pied Wag¬ 
tails gather in something the same way along the south 
coast in their autumn migration ; and in fact they were on 
their travels at Lulworth, though in small numbers, at the 
very same time when I was watching the Swallows. In other 
years I have sometimes seen them there in such vast numbers 
that a single field, which was being ploughed, seemed 
literally alive with them, and after several years’ observation, 
I may hazard a conjecture that the Grey Wagtail takes the 
same track ; for otherwise I cannot account for the regular 
appearance of these water-loving birds in a district so water¬ 
less as that of South Dorset, in the month of September, and 
in company with their pied cousins. 
On returning from Devonshire to my Oxfordshire home, I 
found that considerable parties of Swallows and Martins were 
passing over the village at intervals every forenoon. Our 
own birds, which regularly gather on my house roof for a week 
or two before they leave, had apparently departed ; but from 
north and west fresh companies continued to arrive, and it 
was long before we felt that “the Swallows had really gone.” 
These strangers lingered a while about the village, generally 
in the neighbourhood of the church, and then took their 
departure in a south-easterly direction along the line of our 
valley. But, as I have already said, it was difficult to trace 
their line of flight, and impossible to follow it for any 
distance, owing to the want of a commanding hill whence I 
could sweep the whole country with my glass. I may 
mention that one day at nightfall I found a small orchard in 
a neighbouring village crowded with them ; and, no doubt, 
this was a detachment, resting for the night, which would 
roceed on their way early next morning. 
