2'7A. Recent Literature. I q"j 



The subject of ' Geographical Distribution ' occupies fifteen pages of the 

 'Introduction,' from which it appears that 5 genera are peculiar to the 

 Old World, while 4 are peculiar to the New World. The geographic 

 areas recognized are essentially those of Dr. Sharpe's paper ' On the 

 Zoo-Geographical Areas of the World, illustrating the Distribution of 

 Birds,' published in 1S93 (Nat. Sci., Ill, pp. 100-108, — cf. Auk, XI, 1894, 

 pp. 63-65). A 'Note on the Supposed Hibernation of Swallows' occupies 

 pp. Ixix, Ixx of the 'Introduction,' from which we quote : " We will add, 

 however, that we shall require further evidence of the hibernation of 

 Swallows on the next occasion that a torpid specimen is produced from 

 the mud or such-like place in winter. We shall want to see the moulted 

 feathers of the bird in its place of retreat ; for this little fact seems to 

 have been unknown to the believers in the phenomenon, that Stvallozvs 

 moult during- the 'vinter months. Very few birds, we fancy, could support 

 immersion in water, torpidity, and a complete moult of body-feathers, 

 quills, and tail-feathers at the same time; and, for our own part, we do 

 not believe in the hibernation of Swallows (we say nothing about ' Swifts,' 

 which are Swallows still to the uninstructed), but prefer to think of them 

 as wintering in a warmer climate than England, where insect food is 

 procurable, and where they have a chance of surviving the trying process 

 of their moult." 



It seems strange to find so little on record in regard to the moult 

 of Swallows. Judging from museum specimens — -unfortunately not 

 generally taken at the season when birds in general are in moult — • 

 there are some exceptions to the above-given rule, as I find an 

 unquestionably adult male Stelgidopteryx serripennis (Am. Mus. No. 

 53251), taken at Fort Verde, Arizona, Sept. 20, 1886, by Dr. Mearns, 

 symmetrically moulting the quills in both wings, and also the clothing 

 plumage. The authors of the Monograph also cite Mr. Brewster's 

 remarks on the moult of the young of the White-bellied Swallow (p. 

 158) which imply that the adults also moult before going south. 

 Indeed, the authors of the Monograph say in the same connection: "In 

 the Henshaw collection, however, are specimens which are commencing 

 to moult on the 14th and the 27th of August, and an old female killed 

 in the same month and at the same place (Sing-Sing, N. Y.) has almost 

 completely donned its winter plumage, including the white-tipped second- 

 aries ; the longest primaries have not yet been shed." 



That the adults as well as the young of both Tachycineta hicolor and 

 T. thalassina undergo a complete moult of both clothing and flight 

 feathers in the latter part of August and early part of September is 

 abundantly shown by specimens of the former taken in northern New 

 Jersey, and of the latter taken in Arizona and California, all of the adults 

 in the collection taken at this season being in the midst of a general 

 moult. Unfortunately there are no adult specimens of other North 

 American species, taken at this season of the year, at hand at this 

 writing for examination ; but we should be much surprised if it turned 



