Hirundo fulva of Vieilloi. loi 



peared in 1822 at Winchells on the 5th of June, and depart- 

 ed on the 25th of July ; and these are the usual times of its 

 arrival and disappearance. 



This is an active lively bird, continually flying, and fre- 

 quently sailing like the martin, H. purpurea, without any 

 visible exertion of the wing. Its twittering is different from 

 that of any other swallow, and it seeks its food in the same 

 places without any apparent collision. 



On account of the size, form, dimensions, and rapid con- 

 struction of its nest, I had supposed it to be a new species, 

 and had named it the Artificer, Hirundo opifex. I have since, 

 however, found it figured and accurately described under the 

 name of Hirundo fulva, by M. Vieillot, in his splendid work, 

 entitled, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Amerique Septen- 

 trionale, published at Paris in 1807. 



M. Vieillot's account of it, however, is very imperfect. He 

 saw it but once at St. Domingo, in the middle of May, in a 

 flock of about sixty. He likewise saw specimens brought by 

 Mauge from Porto Rico, where the latter had also met with 

 it in the spring. He conjectures from its having been thus 

 observed at the same season in two different years, that it is 

 a bird of passage in the West Indies, and passes on to the 

 north to build. He adds, that he had never seen it in the 

 United States, but that being once in the month of August, near 

 the latitude of Halifax, Nova Scotia, several of these swal- 

 lows came and alighted on the yards of the vessel in which 

 he was. Having never met with them when ashore, he pre- 

 sumes that they had set out from the south, and came from a 

 country still farther north. 



This conjecture respecting their breeding place, now proves 

 from what has been related above, to be correct. His figure 

 is inaccurate ; the tail being there represented very acutely 

 forked, and the colour of the head and back a clear blue. 

 His description is, however, much more exact, and though 

 he does not mention whether the tail is even or forked, there 



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