254 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



FAMILY HIRUNDINimE. THE SWALLOWS. 

 Sub-Family HIRUNDININ^E. 



Bill triangular, very short and broad, much depressed ; the ridge much less than 

 half the head; the gonys two-thirds this length; the gape extending to below the 

 eye; primaries nine; the first longest, and, with the second, considerably longer 

 than the others ; the secondaries and tertials not reaching the middle of the prima- 

 ries; the secondaries deeply emarginate; wings very long, reaching beyond the 

 commencement of the fork of the tail, which is generally more or less deep ; tarsi 

 scutellate, very short, less than the lateral toes, the inner of which is more deeply 

 cleft than the outer. 



HIRUNDO, LINN^US. 



Hirundo, LINN^US, Syst. Nat. (1735). Gray, Genera, I. (1845). 



Nostrils basal, small, oblong, and covered partly by a membrane; tail more or 

 less forked; the outer lateral feather sometimes greatly lengthened; tarsi shorter 

 than the middle toe, and scutellated ; tarsi naked ; toes long, slender, the lateral ones 

 unequal ; claws moderate, curved, acute. 



HIRUNDO HORREORUM, Barton. 

 ^J^The Barn Swallow. 



Hirundo horreorum, Barton. Fragments N. H. Penna. (1799) 17. 

 Hirundo Americana, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 34. 

 Hirundo rustica, Audubon. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 413. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Tail very deeply forked ; outer feathers several inches longer than the inner, very 

 narrow towards the end ; above glossy-blue, with concealed white in the middle of 

 the back ; throat chestnut ; rest of lower part reddish-white, not conspicuously dif- 

 ferent; a steel-blue collar on the upper part of the breast, interrupted in the middle; 

 tail feathers with a white spot near the middle, on the inner web. Female with the 

 outer tail feather not quite so long. 



Length, six and ninety one-hundredths inches ; wing, five inches ; tail, four and 

 fifty one hundredths inches. 



TJHIS beautiful and well-known bird arrives in New 

 England from about the 10th of April to the 25th of 

 that month, according to latitude : it is quickly dispersed in 

 great numbers through these States, and soon commences 

 mating. Its habits are so well known that any description 



