.--In Surinam, Hirundo rustica erythrogaster
is a common visitor from the north. It is, however, rather local as it is never seen
in forests or wooded areas but wholly confined to wide, open spaces such as rice
fields, savannas, lagoons, and the mouths of the big rivers.
My first record of its arrival from the north is August 22, 1953, three birds at
Nickerie, while four were seen along the coast in the same district on August 23,
1953. Heavy migration takes place in the first half of September. On September
12 and 14, 1946, and again on September 13, 1947, numerous birds crossed the mouth
of the Coppename River and followed the Saramacca River upstream in a south-
easterly direction. Migration continues during October: on October 2, 1949, a
strong migration took place toward the southeast over the savanna at Zanderij and
to a lesser extent on October 9 and 30, 1949. It lasts even far into November:
on November 12, 1952, 16 birds were seen following the coast at Coronie, as were
five on November 20, 1949, over the savanna at Zanderij. On both dates, the
birds flew in a southeasterly direction.
During December, January, February, and March great numbers assemble in
the open spaces already mentioned: on December 20 and 21, 1946, a great many
birds were hawking over the lagoons at Nickerie. When I arrived here about one
hour before sunset on December 13, 1952, a great number of swallows was flying
low over the surface of the water, taking a kind of communal bath, splashing in
flight into the water, so that the drops spattered up into the air. Later on they all
assembled in a huge flock in a fully-leaved tree in the middle of the lagoon, where
they spent the night.
During these months many birds hawk around the sheds and barns in the vast
rice fields in the same district. It is difficult to state when the northward movement
starts again, as the birds are present during all the intervening months, but spring
migration lasts into the latter part of April, as great numbers were present in the rice
fields at Nickerie until April 20, 1953. A few stragglers are present in May and even
in June. My latest records are: May 4, 1953, one bird above the rice fields at Coronie;
May 11, 1946, one above the Surinam River at Paramaribo; May 24, 1953, one at
the mouth of the Coppename River; June 5, 1948, one above the Boromoffo Creek
at the place where it enters the Coppename River. In the interior of the country
it seems that the birds follow the course of the big rivers during migration, as on
March 24, 1953, six birds were seen flying downstream along the upper Surinam
River between Kabel and Brokopondo; on March 25, more birds were seen further
downstream.
My records agree well with the observations by Young (Ibis, 1929: 235) from the
neighboring coast of British Guiana, who observed the first migrants from the north
in the latter part of August.--F. HAyERSCHMIDT, P.O. Box 644, Paramaribo, Surinam.