SYNONYMY AND CHARACTERS OF S. SERRIPENNIS 430 



Stelgidopterj X serripennis, Bd. Eev. AB. 18G5, 314 (type of tlio genus).— Coucs, Tr. PLila. 

 Acad. 1866, 72 (Fort Whipple, Ariz.).— Coues, Pr. Bost. Soc. xii. 1868, 111 (South Ciiro- 

 liua). -Coues, Key, 1872, lU.—Merr. Ann. Eep. U. S. Geol. Surv. Terr, for 1872, 1873, 

 llS.—Ridgw. Bull. Ess. Inst. v. 1873, 181 (Co\oTa.do). —Eidgw. Ann. Lj-c. N. Y. x. 1874, 

 370 (Illinois).— Jfcrr. Am. Nat. viii. 1874, 8, 81.—Coues, BNW. 1874, 90. -B. B. <£ R. 

 NAB. i. 1874, 350, pi. 16, f 12.— Farr. <e Hensh. Kop. Orn. Specs. 1874, U.—Hemh. ibid. 

 42, 60, 77, 105.— Hensh. List B. Ariz. 1875, I51.—Hensh. Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 



1875, 219.— Breipsf. Ann. Lye. N. T. xi. 1875, 139 (Virginia, habits).— Gentry, Life-IIist. 



1876, 196.— Pwrdie, Bull. Nutt. Club, ii. 1877, 21 (Connecticut).— Iferr. Trans. Conn. 

 Acad. iv. 1877, 31.— iangdoTi, List B. Cincinnati, 1877, 7 (abundant; nesting in holes 

 in banks like O. riparia).—Eidgiv. Rep. Surv. 40th Par. iv. 1877, 446. 



Stelgidopterix serripennis, Wheat. Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1874, 1875, 5C5. 



A closey related, if really different, species is Cotyle fulvipennis, Scl. PZS. 

 1859, 364 (Xalapa); Bd. Rev. AB. 1865, 316; Salv. PZS. 1870, 184 (Veragua). 



Hab. — United States, from Atlantic to Pacilic, and probably adjoining 

 British Provinces. British Columbia (Lord). Rare or wanting in North- 

 eastern States (Connecticut, Mefrriam). South to Guatemala. 



Cn. SP. — $ $ Murinus, alts cauddque ohscurioribiis ; infra 

 dilutior, postice albicans. 



$ 2 : Lustreless mouse-brown or brownish-gray, paler below, gradually 

 whitening posteriorly. Wings and tail darker than the u^iper parts. 

 Rather larger than the last species. No dark pectoral band contrasting 

 with white. No tuft of feathers at the base of the hind toe. Outer web of 

 ouer primary stiffened and converted into a series of little hooks. 



Young : At a very early age, the feathers of the back, rump, and wings are 

 suffused or edged with rich rusty-brown, while the under parts are more or 

 less tinged with a paler shade of the same. The booklets of the wings are 

 only fully developed in adult birds, and are not appreciable at all iu young 

 ones. 



OF the Kough-winged Swallow, type of a notable genus and 

 an interestiug species in many respects, no adequate 

 biograpb}", reflecting all the information we have gradually 

 acquired, has yet appeared ; though various original contribu- 

 tions to such history, as those furnished by Audubon, Brewer, 

 Van Fleet, and others, have supplied the requisite material. 

 Our Eough wing was not the first-discovered representative of 

 this curious group, superficially so similar to Cotyle., yet quite 

 distinct; for, many years before Audubon's discovery of serri- 

 pennis., Vieillot named a Hirundo rtificoUis, or H. Jlavitjastra, 

 an inhabitant of South America, subsequently determined to 

 be a iStelgidopteryx. In later times, several additional si)ecies 

 have been described ; the Cotijlc fulvipennis of Sclater, 1S59, 

 the C. uropygialis of Lawrence, 1803, and the S. fulcigula of 

 Baird, 1805, all of which inhabit Middle America, and some of 

 which are probably not very distinct species. 



