THE GENUS COTYLE COTYLE EIPARIA 435 



turbed, iu a very Babel! Again, I have found a colony of 

 Swallows iu what would seem to be a very daugerous neigh- 

 borhood — all about the nest of a Falcon, no other than the 

 valiant and merciless Falco polyagrus, on the very minarets 

 and buttresses of whose awe-inspiring castle, on the scowling 

 face of a precipice, a colony of Swallows was established in 

 apparent security. The big birds seemed to be very comforta- 

 ble ogres, with whom the multitude of hop-o'-my-thumbs had 

 evidently some sort of understanding, perhaps like that which 

 the Purple Grackles may be supposed to have with the Fish- 

 hawks when they set up housekeeping in the cellar of King 

 Pandion's palace. If it had only been a Fish-hawk in this 

 case instead Falco pohjagnis, we could understand such amica- 

 ble relations better — for Clifif Swallows are cousins of Purple 

 Martins, and, if half we hear be true, Progne was Pandion's 

 daughter. 



Genus COTYLE Boie 



Hirundo, p., of AiUhors. 



Cotile, Boie, Isis, 1822 (type H. riparia). 



Cotyle, Boie, Isis, 1826. 



Biblis, Less. "1837". 



Tarsus with a tuft of feathers at the base below, near inser- 

 tion of the hind toe. Edge of wing not rough. Claws little 

 curved, the lateral reaching beyond the base of the middle one. 

 Bill very small, the nostrils opening laterally and overhung by 

 a membrane. Tail much shorter than wings, emarginate. 

 Coloration dull and simple — iu the type of the genus lustreless 

 brown above and across breast, white below. Eggs uncol- 

 ored, laid in holes in the ground excavated by the bird. 



Tbere is a single American species of this particular group, 

 not different from that of Europe, and one of the most nearly 

 cosmopolitan of Passerine birds, inhabiting Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, and America. 



BnnEi i^^iv'alloir, or i§and ITIartin 



Cotyle riparia 



Hirundo riparia, of many pro-Linnscan writi'i-s, as Oesncr, Jonst, Charlct, Willughy,Ray, 

 etc.— Z,. SN. i. 10th ed. HW, 192, t). 4 (ex Fu. Svcc. n. 247, otc. ).-i;ru?in, OB. 1764, 

 74, D. 291.— L. SX. i. 12th c(l. 1706, 344, n.i.—Bodd. Tabl. PE. 1783, 32; pi. 543, f. 2.— 

 Gm. SN. i. 1788, 1010, n. A.—Schaeff. Mus. Orn. 17!-9, 23, n. To.—Lath. 10. i. 1790, 575, 

 n.lO.— TFtfe. AG. v.1812,46, pi. 38, f.— .— r.Ency.Moth. ii. 182,3, 517,i).2.— De WMCiint. 

 Ann. Lye. N. Y. i. 1824, 159.- 7?p. Jimrn. Phila. Aeid. iv. 18:5, 2."8.— .Bp. Ann. Lye. 

 N.Y.ii. 1826,65.— ifw. Tr. Oru. 1831, 269.— <S. <£■ li. VliA. ii. 1831, 333.— Am<<. Alan, i 



