HIRUXDIXID.E — THE SWALLOWS. 347 



released would at once fly back to their brood. They build a loose, soft, and 

 Avann nest of fine soft leaves and hay, abundantly lined with down and 

 feathers, witli which the eggs are not unfrequently covered. The addition 

 of soft and warm materials is often made during incubation, and the nest 

 is thorougldy repaired before it is used for a second brood, of wliich they 

 usually have two in a season. 



The eggs are of a uniform pure white, and are ne^'er spotted. They liave 

 a delicate pinkish sliade before they are blown. Tliey are of an ol)loiig-o\al 

 sliape, one end more i)oiuted than the other, and they vary considerably in 

 size. They vary in lengtli from .75 to .875 of an inch, and in breadth trom 

 .50 to .56. 



Mr. Hepburn states that tlie great mas.s of these liirds lea^•e California in 

 August, but that a few are resident during the winter. The principal acces- 

 sion to their numbers takes place al)out the end of February, and they be- 

 come quite abundant by the end of March. In Vancouver they are a month 

 later. In 1853 Mr. Hepburn states that a' pair constructed their nest in a 

 piece of canvass at the end of the yard-arm of a store-ship that lay off the 

 levee at Sacramento. He first noticed them on the iiSth of April, when the 

 nest had already made some progress. By the 19th of JMay there were seven 

 eggs in it which were slightly incubated. The nest was a great mass of 

 hay and dried grasses, in the midst of which was a cup-shaped depu'ession 

 very neatly lined with feathers, some of which bent over, forming a slight 

 dome. 



?> 



Hirimdo thalassina, Swaix.s. / ai a/ 



VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW. ^ ^ 'i 



Hirundo tlmlnssina, SwAixsnx, rial. JIag. I, 1827, 365 (Mexico). —AuD. — Brewer, N. 

 A. Obi. \, 1857, 102 (the fig. ])1. v, lig. l.\.\iv of egg belongs to another species). — 

 B.\IUD, Birds N. Am. 18,i8, 311. — Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. Woolwich, IV, 1864, 115 

 (Vancouver Isl. ; nests in holes of trees). — Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, 

 II, 185 (\V. T.). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 107. ChcUdon thalassina, BoiE, Isis, 

 1844, 171. Tachycineta thalassina, Cab. Mils. Hein. 1850, 48. Hirundo (Tachijcbwla) 

 thalassina, Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 299. Fetrodielidon thalassina, Solater & Sal- 

 viy, Ibis, 1859, 13 (Guatemala). — Ib. P. Z. S. 1864, 173 (City of Me.\-.). 



Sp. Char. Tail acutely emarginate. Beneath pure white. Above soft velvety-green, 

 with a very faint shade of purplish-violet concentrated on the nape into a ti'ansverse band. 

 Rump rather more vivid green ; tail-covcrts showing a good deal of purple. Colors of 

 female much more obscure. Lengtli, 4.75 ; wing, 4..50 ; tail, 2.00. 



Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of United States., .south to Guatemala, east to the 

 Upper Missouri. Breeds on Plateau of Mexico (StiMicHRAST). 



Young birds are of a dull velvety grayish-brown, not unlike the shade of 

 color of Cotiilc riparin, but may lie distinguished by the absence of the tuft 

 of feathers at Ijase of toes, and the gray (not white) bases of the feathers of 

 under parts. There is only an ashy shade across the breast, not a pectoral 

 band. 



