422 DISTRIBUTION OF THE VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW 



far east as Nebraska", may be reminded that the Territories of 

 Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and some others, have 

 since been formed at the expense of what was once " Nebraska " 

 and " Oregon ". In an article printed in 1864, Mr. J. K. Lord de- 

 tailed some observations of his made a few years before along 

 the parallel of 49° N. from the Rocky Mountains west. These 

 birds were among the earliest visitors at Colville. arriving in 

 small flocks in March, increasing in May, and building in June 

 in holes in trees, laying four or five eggs. This writer sur- 

 mised that the birds dug these holes for themselves in soft 

 wood; but this seems scarcely credible, though it is not un- 

 likely that they may do more or less refitting of knot-holes and 

 woodpeckers' nests. The Violet-green Swallow has been ob- 

 served little, if any, north of the scene of Mr. Lord's opera- 

 tions, and the very border of British America must, for the 

 present at least, be considered its limit of distribution in this 

 direction. The Great Plains seem to present an impassable 

 barrier to the eastward dispersion of even so excellent a flyer 

 as this ; but it does come a little beyond even the foothills 

 of the Eockies. Thus, on the 26th of June, 1874, being then 

 on the Upper Missouri, above the mouth of the Yellowstone, 

 near the Quaking Ash River, I observed a few individuals ; 

 though no specimens were secured to attest the fact, I could 

 not have been mistaken, as I had long been familiar with the 

 lovely birds from my studies in New Mexico and Arizona. 



In general terms, as far as the United States is concerned, 

 the Violet-green inhabits wooded regions from the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific, spreading over all our territory dur- 

 ing March ; it is liable to be found breeding wherever suitable 

 trees occur, but, like other Swallows, is more or less locally 

 distributed. During September it retires southward, probably 

 none wintering amongst us. It is resident in Mexico, as Mr. 

 Sumichrast informs us, at almost all elevations, and is very 

 common. Mr. Salvin witnesses its abundance in Guatemala 

 during a portion of the year. 



I am uncertain to whom we owe the discovery of the fact 

 that the eggs of the Violet-green Swallow are white and un- 

 marked. The information was long delayed in coming, partly 

 owing, no doubt, to the difiSculty of getting at the eggs, even 

 when the artfully-hidden retreat is discovered. The nest may 

 be in honey-combed rocks, entirely out of reach ; or in the top 

 of a blasted tree, too rotten to be scaled with safety 5 or out of 



