HIRUXDINID.E — THE SWALLOWS. 331 



alpine regions of Mexico, and is also found at Cape St. Lucas. Accidental 

 specimens have been detected in England and in Ireland. It is abundant 

 on tlie Saskatchewan. Buriueister states that this species is common in the 

 vicinity of Eio de Janeiro, and that it is distributed in moderate abundance 

 through the whole of tropical South America. Von Pelzeln also cites it as 

 occurring on the Rio Negro and at Manaqueri through the three winter 

 niontlis, nesting in old buildings and in holes in tjie rocks. It is, however, 

 quite possible that they refer to an allied Ijut distinct species. 



In a wild state the natural resort of this species, for nesting and shelter, 

 \\-as to hollow trees and crevasses in rocks. The introduction of civilized 

 life, and with it of other safer and more convenient places, better adapted to 

 their wants, has wrought an entire change in its habits. It is now very 

 rarely known to resort to a hollow tree, though it will do so where better 

 provision is not to be had. Comfortable and convenient boxes, of various 

 devices, in our cities and large towns, attract them to build in small commu- 

 nities around the dwellings of man, where their social, familiar, and confiding 

 disposition make them general favorites. There they find abundance of in- 

 sect food, and repay their benefactors by the destruction of nvmierous injuri- 

 ous and noxious kinds, and there, too, they are also comparatively safe from 

 their own enemies. These conveniences vary from the elegant martin- 

 houses that adorn private grounds in our Eastern cities to the ruder gourds 

 and calabashes which are said to be frequently placed near the humbler 

 cabins of the Southern negroes. In Washington the columns of the public 

 buildings, and the eaves and sheltered portions of the piazzas, afford a con- 

 venient protection to large numbers around the Patent Office and the Post- 

 Office buildings. 



The abundance of this species varies in different parts of the country, from 

 causes not always apparent. In the vicinity of Boston it is quite unusual, 

 though said to have been, forty years since, quite common. There tlieir 

 places are taken Ijy the H. hicolor, who occupy almost exclusively the mar- 

 tin-houses, and very rarely build in hollow trees. 



Sir John Eichardson states that it arri\-es within the Arctic Circle earlier 

 than any other of its family. It made its first appearance at Great Bear 

 Lake as early as the 17th of May, when the ground was covered witli snow, 

 and the rivers and lakes were all icebound. 



In the Southern States it is said to raise three liroods in a season ; in its 

 more northern distribution it raises but one. Their early migrations expose 

 the IMartins to severe exposure and suffering from changes of weather, in 

 wliich large numbers have been known to perish. An occurrence of this 

 land is said to have taken place in Eastern Massachusetts, where nearly all 

 the birds of this species were destroyed, and where to this day their places 

 have never been supplied. 



Within its selected compartment the IMartin prepares a loose and irregular 

 nest. Tliis is composed of various materials, such as fine dry leaves, straws. 



