334 CHIMNEY SWALLOW.
the 18th of the same month, not one did I see near it, and only a few
scattered individuals were passing, as if moving southward. In September
I entered the tree at night, but not a bird was in it. Once more I
went to it in February, when the weather was very cold ; and perfectly
satisfied that all these Swallows had left our country, I finally closed the
entrance, and left off visiting it.
May arrived, bringing with its vernal warmth the wanderers of the
air, and I saw their number daily augmenting, as they resorted to the tree
to roost. About the beginning of J une, I took it in my head to close the
aperture above, with a bundle of straw, which with a string I could
draw off whenever I might chuse. The result was curious enough; the
birds as usual came to the tree towards night; they assembled, passed and
repassed, with apparent discomfort, until I perceived many flying off to a
great distance, on which I removed the straw, when many entered the hole,
and continued to do so until I could no longer see them from the ground.
I left Louisville, having removed my residence to Henderson, and did
not see the tree until five years after, when I still found the Swallows resorting
to it. The pieces of wood with which I had closed the entrance
had rotted, or had been carried off, and the hole was again completely
filled with exuvise and mould. During a severe storm, their ancient tenement
at length gave way, and came to the ground.
General WILLIAM CLARK assured me that he saw this species on the
whole of his route to the Pacific, and there can be no doubt that in those
wilds it still breeds in trees or rocky caverns.
Its food consists entirely of insects, the pellets composed of the indigestible
parts of which it disgorges. It is furnished with glands which
supply the unctuous matter with which it fastens its nest.
This species does not appear to extend its migrations farther east than
the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is unknown
in Newfoundland and Labrador; nor was it until the 29th of May that
I saw some at Eastport in Maine, where a few breed.
HIRUNDO PELASGIA, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i p. 345. Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 5 8 1 .
CYPSELUS PELASGIUS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 63.
CHIMNEY SWAELOW, HIRUNDO TELASGLA, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. v. p. 48, pi. 3 9 .
fig. 1. Nuttall, Manual, p. 609.
Adult Male. Plate CLVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill extremely short, very broad at the base, with a very wide rictus,
CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 335
compressed towards the tip ; upper mandible bent towards the end, the
sides convex, the sharp edges inflected and having an indistinct sinus
near the t i p ; lower mandible nearly straight; gap line slightly arched.
Nostrils basal, approximate, oblong. Head large and depressed, neck
short, body slender. Feet extremely short and weak; tarsus rounded,
destitute of scutella ; toes extremely short, the three anterior nearly equal,
each with only two joints, hind toe puny, with a much smaller claw ;
claws strong, shortish, compressed, arched, very acute.
Plumage short, compact, rather blended, slightly glossed ; wings extremely
elongated, falciform, quills narrow with excessively strong shafts,
the first longest. Tail of ten feathers, very short, slightly rounded, the
shaft of extraordinary strength, and projecting beyond the webs in the
form of a stiff prickle.
Bill black. Iris black. Feet dusky, with black claws. The general
colour is brownish-black, lighter on the rump, and with slight greenish
reflections on the head and back ; the throat greyish-white, gradually
shaded into the greyish-brown colour of the under parts, which have a
peculiar grey and greenish lustre; the space from the eye to the bill
black ; a greyish-white line over the eye.
Length 4f inches, extent of wings 12 ; bill along the back ft, along
the edge ft ; tarsus ft.
Adult Female. Plate CLVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female is similar to the male.
Two views of the nest are also given in the plate.