108 NORTH AMEEICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



C Y P S E I, I Kf iE . 

 ACANTHYLIS TELASGIA. 



Hirundo pelasgia, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 345. 

 " " WiLS. Am. Orn. V, 1812, 48. 



« " ViEiLL. Ois d'Am. Sept. I, 1807, 73. 



Hirundo cerdo, Baeteam, Trav. 1791, p. 292. 

 Hirundo carolinensis, Brisson, II, 501. 

 Cypselus pelasgius, Bonap. Syn. 1828, p. 63. 



NuTTALL, Manual, I, 1832, 609. 

 " " AuB. Orn. Biog. 11, 1835, 329 ; V, 319 ; pi. civiii. 



"« " De Kay, Nat. Hist. N. Y., Birds, 1844, pi. x.xvii, fig. 58. 



ChcBiura pelasgia, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 8. 

 AuD. Syn. 1839, p. 33. 

 " Birdsof Am. I, 1840, 164, pi. xliv. 

 Cypselus acuius, Bonap. Consp. Av. p. 64. 

 Acanthi/Us pelasgia, Cassin, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 249. 



VuLG. — The Chimney Swallow. The American Swift. Chiviney Swift. Aculeated Swallow 

 (Arc. Zool.). Afnerican Spine-tail. 



The Swift, or, as it is more generally called. Chimney Swallow, of North Amer- 

 ica, in its habits during the breeding season presents a remarkable contrast to the 

 European species. While the latter are shy and retiring, shunning the places fre- 

 quented by man, and breeding chiefly in caves or ruined and deserted habitations, 

 theii' American representatives, like most of the Swallow family here, have at once 

 upon the erection of the dwellings of civilized life manifested their appreciation of 

 the protection they afford, by an entire change in their habits in respect to the 

 location of their nests. When the country was first settled, these birds were known 

 to breed only in the hollow trunks of forest-trees. The chimneys of the dwellings of 

 civilized communities presented sufficient inducements, in their superior safety and 

 convenience, to tempt them to forsake for them their primitive breeding-places. 

 So complete has been the change in this respect, that, wherever the country has 

 been long settled, they are hardly known to resort to hollow trees for any other 

 purpose than as occasional roosting-places. It is not impossible that hereafter, 

 M'hen this change of habit shall have become universal, and there are no longer any 

 of the species left to furnish an example of their primitive mode of nesting, it may 

 become a disputed point among naturalists whether they ever did nest in hollow 

 trees, as there are already those who dispute the more extended immigrations of the 

 Cliff Swallow, now that they have become so common in the eastern part of the 

 continent. Even at the present day, in some portions of the country, so universally 

 do they deserve their name, that few realize that chimneys have not always been 

 their natural breeding-places. 



The Chimney Swallow is known to breed throughout the central and northern 

 States, from Virginia almost to Labrador, and the recent explorations show that they 

 are found from ocean to ocean. They have been observed in abundance on the 



