320 • SWALLOWS. 



P. subis, but " whole under portion and sides of head and neck, chest, sides, 

 and flunks uniform sooty grayish brown, in marked contrast with pure white 

 of belly, anal region, and under tail-coverts. L., 7*60 ; W,, 5*50; T., 3-10" 

 (Bidgw.). 



Range. — Southern Florida south to Cuba and probably Central America. 



JS'esting similar to that of P. subis. 



A common summer resident in Florida from Pasco County south- 

 ward, arriving in March. It resembles P. subis in habits. 



612. Petrochelidon lunifrons (Sap). Cliff Swallow; Eave 

 Swallow. Ad. — Forehead whitish, crown steel-blue, throat and sides of 

 the head chestnut ; a brownish gray ring around the neck ; breast brownish 

 gray, tinged with rufous and with a steel-blue patch in its center; belly 

 white; back steel-blue, lightly streaked with Avhite; shorter upper tail- 

 coverts pale rufous / tail fuscous, the feathers of nearly equal length. Jm. — 

 Similar, but upper parts duller; throat black, sometimes mottled with white. 

 L., 6-01 ; W., 4-34 ; T., 2-01 ; B. from N., -20. 



Jiemarks. — The Clitf Swallow may be known from our other Swallows 

 by its rufous upper tail-coverts. • 



Range. — North. America, north to Labrador, and, in the interior, to the 

 Arctic Ocean ; breeds throughout its range ; winters in the tropics. 



Washington, rare S. K., Apl. to Sept. Sing Sing, common S. K., May 1 to 

 Sept. 12. Cambridge, S. R., much less common than formerly, Apl. 28 to 

 Sept. 1. 



A"es<, of mud, generally retort- or pocket-shaped, beneath cliffs or the eaves 

 of a barn or other building. Eggs., four to Ave, white, with numerous spots 

 of cinnamon-, olive-, or rufous-brown, -81 x -55. 



During the nesting season these Swallows are of very local distri- 

 bution. They will return year after year to their rows of mud tene- 

 ments beneath the eaves of some barn or outbuilding, and, although 

 familiar birds to residents of the immediate vicinity, they may be 

 entire strangers to those who have never had a colony of these birds 

 settled near them. 



Like Barn Swallows, they are masons, and they may be seen on 

 muddy shores rolling the little pellets of clay which enter into the 

 construction of their nest. 



In the fall they are found in flocks with other Swallows, but at all 

 times they may be readily identified by their pale rufous upper tail- 

 coverts, which make a conspicuous field-mark. 



The Cuban Cliff Swallow (5i;?.i. Petrochelidon fultia) has been once 

 recorded from the Dry Tortugas, Florida (Scott, Auk, vii, 1890, p. 265). 



613. Chelidon erythrogaster {Bodd.). Barn Swallow. Ad. — 

 Forehead, throat, and upper breast ahestnut-rufous ; rest of the under parts 

 washed with the same color; upper parts steel-blue; tail deeply forked, all 

 but the middle feathers with white spots on their inner webs. Im. — Upper 



