NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 295 



4 



HIRUNDINIDsE. 



16. Hirdndo fulva. (H. pcecilovia, Gosse.) These swallows are found in all 

 the caves in the limestone ranges, generally domiciled with large colonies of 

 bats ; formerly they occupied parts of all the public buildings and many de- 

 lapidated houses about Spanish Town. The Progne has, however, driven them 

 from the Secretary's office, and another building now occupied by the Execu- 

 tive Committee, and lately the Palm Swifts have forced them to abandon the 

 House of Assembly ; from the other public buildings they are also excluded 

 by the vigilance of the keepers, though they often attempt a lodgment. They 

 are now congregated in large colonies at the railway stations. Small parties 

 or solitary pairs still, however, hover about their old haunts in the town, 

 during the breeding season. One pair built on the Bishop's Registrar's Office, 

 and although the office was closed from 3 o'clock on Saturday until 7 o'clock 

 on Monday morning, they built their nest and laid three eggs, which I took from 

 them before they left. They have often attempted to return every season to 

 the House of Assembly, and commence building, but their little neighbors, 

 the Palm Swifts, allow them no rest until they have driven them away. This 

 year, 1863, a few pairs have succeeded in making a lodgment. _ The nest is a 

 half of an oblong mass of mud and grass well worked together, with a flat top or 

 platform, and a small cup filled with down. The flat side of the section is 

 stuck against the wall or beam ; the eggs are three, varying considerably in 

 form, size, and markings, the type, by 9-16ths, long oval, white, splashed 

 with dots of burnt ochre, thicker at the larger end. In some the marking is 

 almost obsolete. 



Hirundo euchrysea. I have not yet had an opportunity of noting this 

 species, I have only met with two indifferent specimens ; they are, I am in- 

 formed, to be found at Content, in Manchester, where they form a colony in an 

 old building also occupied by the H. fulva. 



18. Progne dominicensis. Though sometimes met with domiciled in build- 

 ings, the Progne still manifests its peculiar predilection for dark places. In 

 the office of the Island Secretary, in Spanish Town, they resort to the ceiled 

 roofs of the upper story, entering through holes found under the eaves, where 

 they live and carry on the work of incubation in total darkness. At each end 

 of the House of Assembly is a hole drilled through the brick wall for the in- 

 sertion of a pipe for carrying off the surplus water from the drip and water 

 jars ; in consequence of some alterations made in this respect, the pipes were 

 removed and the holes stopped up from within, but left open outwardly ; in 

 each of these holes the Progne builds every year. In the mountains, caves 

 and hollow trees are chosen for the nestling places. The nest is composed of 

 an odd mixture of shreds of cloth, silk, paper, leaves, grass, twigs, &c, all 

 loosely put together with a lining of down and feathers. In Spanish Town 

 the nest is composed principally of the soft, flexible portion of the seed pods of 

 the Catalpa longissima. The eggs are round, oval, clear white, 15-16ths by 

 ll-16ths of an inch. The species is musical. It is one of the phases of the Na- 

 turalist's barometer, as whenever, though the atmosphere be clear and dry, the 

 Progne perches on the weathercock or lightning rod, on the highest points of 

 the house top, or on the topmost twigs of some lofty tree, chaunting his incan- 

 tation, cloudy weather and rain will surely follow within 24 hours. I be- 

 lieve stragglers of this species remain during the winter months. Several 

 species of the migratory Hirundines traverse the Island from north to south 

 in the autumn, and from south to north in the spring. They pass in con- 

 siderable numbers high overhead. Sometimes, in squally weather, their flight 

 . is lower, skimming rapidly along, rarely alighting, and then only for a few 

 seconds. I have on several occasions had passing glimpses of some alighting 

 for a moment at some water puddle in the road or street, but these oppor- 

 tunities are rare. On oue occasion I saw distinctly some large Martins with 



1863.] 



