138 HEADQUARTERS. 



other place north of the Boundary line, as it 

 passes the Columbia, so well suited for the 

 purposes of the Commission as this valley hence 

 the Commissioner fixed on it as our headquarters. 

 It was a glorious place for birds: which were 

 in great force. All my notes on the habits of 

 the different species of birds I observed, shot, and 

 brought home, would fill a ponderous volume ; 

 the full list of species is given in the Appendix. 

 For special description a few groups are selected, 

 whose habits are not generally known, or which 

 vary in accordance with local modifying causes- 

 matters always interesting to the general reader 

 as well as to the naturalist. Swallows are always 

 in great abundance, arriving from southward 

 when the insects make their appearance. 



THE WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW (Hirundo bi- 

 cofor,Vieillot) is one of the most abundant species 

 visiting Vancouver Island and British Columbia, 

 reaching an altitude, on the Cascades and Rocky 

 Mountains, of 7,000 feet above the sea-level. 

 Its favourite hawking-grounds are the open 

 prairies, or round the margin and over the 

 surfaces of lakes, large and small. 



Unlike the species next described, this swallow 

 always builds its nest in dead willow or cotton- 

 wood trees, and lines it with ducks' feathers. 



