iqoi 1 Trotter, A'«/;«'5 Ornithological Ob$ervatioti<^. 2 CO 



"The Barn Swa/Iows, or House Stvallows are those with a fur- 

 cated tail. They are Linnaeus's Hirufido rustica. I found them 

 in all parts of North Atnerica which I travelled over. [This state- 

 ment shows that the original entry about swallows in the journal 

 was shaped up after Kalm's return to Sweden, for as yet he had 

 only travelled as far as New York and back]. They correspond 

 very nearly to the European House Swallow in regard to their 

 colour, however there seems to be a small difference in the note. 

 I took no notice this year when they arrived : but the following 

 year, 1750, I observed them for the first time on the loth of 

 April (new style) ; the next day in the morning, I saw great num- 

 bers of them sitting on posts and planks, and they were as wet as 

 if they had been just come out of the sea. [At this point is 

 inserted a lengthy editorial excursus by Forster on the hibernation 

 of swallows.] They build their nests in houses, and under the 

 roofs on the outside ; I likewise found their nests built on moun- 

 tains and rocks whose top projected beyond the bottom ; they 

 build too under the corners of perpendicular rocks ; and this 

 shews where the Swallows made their nests, before the Europeans 

 settled and built houses here ; for it is well known that the huts 

 of the Indians could not serve the purpose of the Sivallows. 



" The Chimney Swallows are the second species, and they derive 

 their name from building their nests in chimneys which are not 

 made use of in summer : sometimes when the fire is not very 

 great, they do not mind the smoke, and remain in the chimney. I 

 did not see them this year till late in May, but in the ensuing year, 

 1750, they arrived on the 3rd of May, for they appear much later 

 than the other Swallows. It is remarkable that each feather in 

 their tail ends is a stiff sharp point, like the end of an awl ; they 

 apply the tail to the side of the wall of the chimneys, hold them- 

 selves with their feet, and the stiff tail serves to keep them up : 

 they make a great thundering noise all the day long, by flying up 

 and down in the chimneys ; and as they build their nests in chim- 

 neys only, and it is well known that the Indians have not so much 

 as a hearth made of masonry, much less a chimney, but make their 

 fires on the ground in their huts, it is an obvious question, where 

 did these Swallows build their nests before the Europeans came, 

 and made houses with chimneys ? It is probable that they form- 



