I GO Hirundo fulva of Veillot. 



Wils.), under the name of barn swallow. I am told that a strange 

 swallow has made its appearance in Easton, at Pennsylvania, 

 and makes its nest in chimnies. If this statement is correct, 

 this bird may prove to be the H. rustica, which is said in the 

 Sys. Nat. to inhabit "per omnem orbem terrarum." 



The tails of these birds are all furcated, except the chimney 

 swallow's, H. pelasgia, which is pointed with shafts. The H. 

 viridis has not been observed in many places. When noticed 

 as a distinct bird, it has been called the tree swallow, and it is 

 said to build its nest in trees, or in martins' cages. Mr. Tho- 

 mas Browne, an intelligent gentlemen of Chenango county, 

 informs me that it is supposed to make its nest in the holes 

 formed in banks by king-fishers. 



It is not improbable, however, that Hirundines may exist 

 with us, which have never been particularly observed as dis- 

 tinct species. The rapid flight of the swallow eludes minute 

 observation ; and I have sometimes thought that I have seen 

 strange swallows, particularly flying about the Mohawk river, 

 east of Utica. 



The swallow which forms more especially the subject of this 

 communication, first made its appearance at Winchell's tavern, 

 on the high road about five miles south of White-Hall, near 

 Lake Champlain, and erected its nest under the eaves of an 

 out-house, where it was covered by the projection of the roof. 

 This was in 1817, and in this year there was but one nest ; the 

 second year, seven ; the third, twenty-eight; the fourth, forty ; 

 and in 1822, there were seventy, and the number has since con- 

 tinued to increase. It has extended itself to Fort Miller, Balls- 

 ton, Franklin in Delaware county, Newport in Kentucky, Red 

 Bank in Ohio, and perhaps still further, for a species nearly 

 allied to this, possibly the same, was seen on the 18th of July, 

 1820, by Major Long's party, near the Rocky Mountains, 

 where it abounds. It is described by Mr. Say, in the account 

 of that expedition, under the name of H. lunifrons. It ap- 



