572 HIRUNDO RUSTICA. 



looks behind on the rural homesteads, which they once held so 

 dear, but rushing onwards in an undeviating course, and main- 

 taining a sullen silence. I marked their flight until they blend- 

 ed with the blue ether, and thought of the bright days which 

 were gone, and the storms which were soon to come. A few 

 stragglers often remain some time behind. The latest that I 

 ever saw was a solitary individual in our stack-yard, on the 

 afternoon of the 7th October ISoD."" 



Young. — The young when fully fledged resemble the old 

 birds, but with considerable diftercnces. They are easily dis- 

 tinguished by the shortness of the lateral tail-feathers, and the 

 inferior gloss of the plumage. The forehead and throat are 

 dull pale brown, the lower parts light grey slightly tinged with 

 red ; the parts which in the adult are splendent with steel blue, 

 are brightly glossed with green, and the feathers on the rump 

 dull, without reflections. 



Remarks. — If this species be identical with the American 

 bird bearing the same name, as it appears to be, although seve- 

 ral ornithologists have considered it different, its distribution 

 over the globe is very extensive. Some author having stated 

 that Swallows remain all winter about the Carron Founderies, 

 being fostered by the constant heat kept up, I have thought it 

 not absolutely foolish to inquire if he had any grounds for his 

 assertion. Having in the spring of 1840 delivered a course of 

 Zoological Lectures in Falkirk, I visited these celebrated works, 

 but found no Swallows in their vicinity. No person in the dis- 

 trict, in so far as I know, ever heard of such a phenomenon ; 

 and no Swallows were to be seen there up to the 16th of April, 

 when I retreated — with flying colours. 



