Trotter on a Hybrid Swallow. 135 



On May 12, a third nest, containing five young birds, well feathered 

 and nearly able to fly, was found by my friend Mr. R. Ridgway, on 

 the shore of an isolated little woodland pond. The site, in this in- 

 stance, was at the foot of a huge stump, the nest being placed in a 

 cavity in the rotten wood. Still another nest was found by the 

 writer, April 29, under the bank of White River, among the earth and 

 roots, and well sheltered by the projection of the bank above. In general 

 construction, as well as situation, this nest was so nearly identical with 

 those already spoken of that any further description would be superfluous. 

 The female was apparently sitting upon the empty nest, and was shot as 

 she flew from it. Upon dissection an egg of full size but without a shell 

 was found in her oviduct, and others in different stages of development in 

 the ovaries. From the above record it may be inferred that the Large- 

 billed Water-Thrush breeds very irregularly, at least in the locality where 

 these observations were made. It seems not unlikely that this may be 

 largely due to the varying height of the water in the different localities 

 which it frequents, the banks of the large rivers and the shores of the 

 ponds connected with them being more subject to inundations in the early 

 spring than the isolated pools and streams among the hills. 



DESCRIPTION OF A HYBRID (HIRUNDO HORREORI-LUNI- 

 FROXS) BETWEEN TWO NORTH AMERICAN SWALLOWS. 



BY SPENCER TROTTER. 



The bird from which the following description is taken was shot 

 at Linwood, Delaware County, Pa., May 22, 1878, by Mr. C. D. 

 Wood, whose attainments as an ornithological collector are well 

 known. Unfortunately he did not carefully determine its sex by 

 dissection, though he believed it to have been a male. My atten- 

 tion was first called to it by his informing me that he had shot 

 a cross between the Barn and the Cliff Swallow ; and from the fol- 

 lowing description it will be seen that the bird presents the more 

 strongly marked features of both Hirundo horreorum and Petroche- 

 lidon lunifrons. This blended likeness stamps it as a hybrid between 

 the two above-mentioned species. The specimen has been exam- 

 ined by several competent ornithologists, who all pronounce its 

 hybrid nature as unquestionable. The bird is remarkable not only 

 as being the result of a mesalliance between two different species, 

 but between two different genera, and it curiously combines the 



