procured by Dr. Fisber at Sing Sing, N.Y., iu August, several of the specimens arc in active moult.
These may be the earlier hatched individuals, as some specimens have not commenced to moult.
Hah. North America at large, migrating down Central America to Brazil and the Argentine Reimblic.
The Cliif-Swallow of Kortli America is distinguished by its sandy-buff frontal band and
rufous rump and throat.
Its range in summer is very extensive, but tbe line of its winter migrations is still
somewhat difficult to indicate, as it has occurred in various parts of Central America,
but principally on tbe Eastern or Atlantic side, so that it is probably by this route that
tlie species finds its way to its winter home in South America, where it visits Brazil aud
the Argentine Republic. Tbe earliest assured name of the species is undoubtedly
Hirundo pyrrhonota of A'ioillot, founded on Azara’s “ Golondrina rabadilla acanelada ” ;
and although Professor Ridgway challenges this identification, there can scarcely be any
doubt that it is correct.
The best account of the species in North America is that published by Professor
Jilliott Coues in bis ‘ Birds of the Colorado A^alley,’ and this is such a perfect Slonograph
of the Cliff-Swallow that u'e cannot resist quoting it in its entirety:—
“ Discovery of this notable Swallow, commonly attributed to Say, was made long
before Long’s expedition to tbe Rocky Alountaius, though the species was first named
ia the hook which treats of that interesting journey. The bird may have been discovered
hy tbe celebrated John Reinliold Forster ; at any rate, the earliest note I have in hand
respecting the Cliff-Swallow is Forster’s, dating 1772, when this naturalist published in
the Philosophical Transactions ‘An Account of the Birds sent from Hudson’s Bay; with
observations relative to their Natural History, and Latin Descriptions of some of tho
most Uncommon,’—a rather noted paper, in wliich seven new species, viz. Falco spadiceus,
Sfrix nebidosa, Emberiza [i. e. Zonotrichia') leucophrys, Fringilla [i. e. Junco] hudsonius,
JLiiscicapa [i. e. Dendrxca] striata, Parus hudsonicus, and Scolopax [i. e. Numenius]
borealis, arc described, with references to various other new birds hy number, such as
‘ Turdus No. 22,’ which is Scolecophagus ferrugineus, and 'Hirundo No. 35,’ which is
Petrochelidon lunifrons. The next observer—in fact, a rediscoverer—was, perhaps,
Audubon, who says that he saw Republican or Cliff Swallows for the first time in 1815,
at Henderson, on the Ohio; that he drew up a description at tlie time, naming the species
Himndo republicana \sic ]‘, and that he again saw the same bird in 1819 at Newport,
Ky., where they usually appeared about tlie 10th of April, and had that year finished
about fifty nests hy the 20tli of the same month. The next year, namely 1820, Major
Long and Sir John Franklin found these hirds again, in widely remote regions, the first-
named during his expedition to the Rocky Alountains, and the latter on the journey from
Cumberland House to Fort Enterprise, and on the banks of Point Lake, in latitude G5°,
where its earliest arrival was noted the following year on tlie 12th of Junc. Dr. Richardson
says that their clustered nests are of frequent occurrence on the faces of cliffs of the-
Barren Grounds, and not uncommon throughout tlu> course of the Slave and Machcnzie
Rivers, and that their first appearance at Fort Chipewyan was on the 25th of June, 18^0.
Major Long’s discovery was named Hirttnclo Innifrous by Say in 1823 ; and the following
year Audubon pnh’lished his hitherto MS. name repuMicmm in the ‘ Annals of Die
New York Lyceum of Natural History,’ with some remarks on the species, in connection
with some observations of Governor de Mitt Clinton, who called the bird llimndo optfex.
Meanwhile, Vicillot had described the AVest Indian eonspecies as Hirundo fa im \ and
the future Prince Bonaparte adopted this name for our species in 1825. Tlius m the
short space of two years. 1823-25, the iiitcrestiiig Anonyma, ‘ No. 35,’ before known
only by number, like the striped inmates of some of our penal estahlisliments, suddenly
became quite a lion, with titles galore in the binomial haut ion. But it was not till
1850 that it was actually raised to the sublime degree ot Fetrocheiidon, though it had
long been taken and held to be a master mason.
“ The Cliff-Swallow has hcen supposed hy some to be an immigrant of comparatively
recent date in the Eastern United States ; hut it does not appear that any broad theory
of a general progressive eastward extension is fairly deduoible from the evidence we
posseL. On the contrary, much of the testimony is merely indicative of the dates
when, in various parts of the country, the hirds began to build under eaves, and so
establish colonies where none existed before; and some of tbe evidence opposes the view
just mentioned. Tbe Swallows, as a rule, are birds of local distribution in tbe breeding
season notwithstanding their pre-eminent migratory abilities; they tend to settle in
particular places, and return year after year; and nothing is better known than that
one town mav be full of Swallows of several kinds unknown in another town hard by.
I suppose tlm real moaning of tho record is ‘ only this and nothing more.’ Nevertheless
these accounts aro interesting, and all liave their hearing on the natural history of
this remarkahle bird. It was unknow n to Wilson. Iu 1817, between Audubon’s times
of observation in Kentucky, Clinton says he first saw Eave-Swallows at AVlutehall, New
York at the southern end of Lake Champlain. Zadock Thompson found them at
Kandolph, Vt„ about the same time. Mr. G. A. Boardinaii tolls me that they were no
novelty at St. Stephen’s, New Brimswiok, in 1828. Dr. Brewer received their eggs from
Coventry, A’t., in 1837, when they were new to him ; but the date of thoir appearance
there w4s not determined. They lire said hy the same writer to have appeared at Jaftrey,
N.H., in 1838; at Carlisle, P.. in 1811 ; and tlie appearance of a large colony which he
observed at Attlcborougli, Mass., in 1842, indicated that they had been there for several
years During the last-montionod year they were present, apparently for the first time,
in Boston and neighhoiiring metastatic foci of the globe. The record also teaches that
those hirds do not necessarily change from ‘ Cliff ’ to ‘ Eave ’ Swallows m the east, lor in
1801 Professor A’crrill disooverod a large colony breeding on limestone cliffs of Anticosti,
remote from man, and in their primitive fosliion. That tlio settlement of the
couiitrv has conduced to the general dispersion of the birds during tho breediiig-seasou
in nhces that knew tliom not before is undoubted; but that any general eastward
‘ 2 x