38 NEW- YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



THE WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. 



HlRTJNDO BICOLOR. 

 PLATE XXIX. FIG. 63. 



(STATE COLLECTION. Male and female.) 



Hirundo bicolor. Vieillot, pi. 31. 



H. virides. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 5, p. 44, pi. 38, fig. 3. 



H. bicolor. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 65. 



White-bellied Swallow. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 1, p. 605. 



H. bicolor. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 328. Audubon, folio, pi. 98; Orn. Biog. Vol. 1, p. 491, and 



Vol. 5, p. 447. Id. Birds of Am. Vol. 1, p. 175, pi. 46 (male and female). 

 Chelidon id. Bonaparte, Comp. and Geogr. List, p. 8. Boie. 

 H. bicolor, While-bellied Swallow. Giraud, Birds of Long island, p. 36. 



Characteristics. Dark lustrous greenish blue above ; beneath white. Tail forked. Tarsus 

 naked. Length, 5 to 5" 5 inches. 



Description. The closed wings extend somewhat beyond the tail. First quill longest, 

 and the lesser ones deeply emarginate. Bill and claws robust. 



Color. Above lustrous steel blue ; beneath white. Bill black. Feet flesh-colored. Fe- 

 male, with less of the lustrous color, but in other respects similar. 



Length, 5" 0-5" 5. 



This swallow is very numerous on the low marshes on the southern shores of Long island. 

 They are slaughtered by thousands and sent to market, and are much esteemed by gour- 

 mands as some small species of snipe. It feeds partly on insects and partly on berries, par- 

 ticularly the fruit of the Myrica cerifera, or Wax-berry, on which it becomes exceedingly 

 fat. It builds in hollow trees, and also occupies boxes in the neighborhood of dwellings. 

 Eggs from 4 to 6, pure white. It ranges from the Gulf of Mexico to the 60th parallel of north 

 latitude, A few, according to Audubon, winter in the neighborhood of New-Orleans. It 

 appears in this State about the middle of April, and leaves us on its southern migration in 

 the early part of September. Boie has made it the type of his genus Chelidon. It is 

 peculiar to America. 



