HIRUNDIXID.E — THE SWALLOWS. 347 



released ^A'Ollld at once fly back to their brood. They build a loose, soft, and 

 Avann nest of fine soft leaves and hay, abundantly lined with down and 

 feathers, with which the eggs are not unfrequently covered. The addition 

 of soft and warm materials is often made during incubation, and the nest 

 is thoroughly repaired before it is used for a second brood, of which they 

 usually have two in a season. 



The eggs are of a uniform pure white, and are never spotted. They have 

 a delicate jDinkish shade before they are blown. They are of an oblong-oval 

 shape, one end more pointed than the other, and they vary considerably in 

 size. They vary in length from .75 to .875 of an inch, and in breadth from 

 .50 to .56. 



Mr. Hepburn states that the great mass of these birds leave California in 

 August, but that a few are resident during the winter. The principal acces- 

 sion to their numbers takes place about the end of February, and they be- 

 come quite abundant by tlie end of March. In Vancouver they are a month 

 later. In 1853 Mr. Hepburn states that a pair constructed their nest in a 

 piece of canvass at the end of the yard-arm of a store-ship that lay off the 

 levee at Sacramento. He first noticed them on the 28th of April, when the 

 nest had already made some progress. By the 19th of May there w^ere seven 

 eggs in it which were slightly incubated. The nest was a great mass of 

 hay and dried grasses, in the midst of which was a cup-shaped depression 

 very neatly lined Avitli feathers, some of which bent over, forming a slight 

 dome. 



Hirundo thalassina, Swmns. 



VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW. 



Hirundo tluilassina, Swainson, Phil. Mag. \, 1S27, 305 (Mexico). — AuD. — Brewer, N". 

 A. 061. \, 1857, 102 (the fig. pi. v, fig. Ixxiv of egg belongs to another specie.s). — 

 Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 311. — Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. Woolwich, lY, 1864, 115 

 (Vancouver Isl. ; nests in holes of trees). — Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, 

 II, 185 (W. T.).— Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 107. Chdidon thalassina, BoiE, Isis, 

 1844, 171. Taclujcinetathalassiim, Cab. Mus. Heiu. 1850, 48. ffirumlo (Tuchycineta) 

 thalassina, Baikd, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 299. Petroclielidon thalassina, Sclater & Sal- 

 viN, Ibis, 1859, 13 (Guatemala). — Ib. P. Z. S. 1864, 173 (City of Mex.). 



Sp. Char. Tail acutely emarginate. Beneath pure white. Above soft velvety-green, 

 with a very faint shade of purplish- violet concentrated on the nape into a transverse band. 

 Rump rather more vivid green ; tail-coverts showing a good deal of purple. Colors of 

 female much more obscure. Length, 4.75 ; wing, 4.50 ; taO, 2.00. 



Hab. Western and Middle Provinces of United States., south to Guatemala, east to the 

 Upper Missouri. Breeds on Plateau of Mexico (Sumichrast). 



Young birds are of a dull velvety grayish-brown, not unlike the shade of 

 color of Cotijlc riparia, but may be distinguished by the absence of the tuft 

 of feathers at base of toes, and the gTay (not white) bases of the feathers of 

 under parts. There is only an ashy shade across the breast, not a pectoral 

 band. 



