190 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 



example is the case of the eave- swallow (Petrochelidon 

 lunifrons). This bird remained undiscovered until 1820 

 when it was met with by the celebrated Thomas Say when 

 naturalist to Major Long's expedition to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, a memento of which remains in the name of one of 

 the loftiest heights of the snowy range Long's Peak. In 

 1825, however, the bird suddenly appeared at Fort Chip- 

 pewa, in the Fur Country, and contentedly built its nest 

 under the eaves. Even earlier it had been seen on the 

 Ohio River, at Whitehall, New York, and very soon after 

 wa$ found breeding in the Green Mountains, in Maine, in 

 New Brunswick, and among the high limestone cliffs of 

 the islands along that precipitous coast. It occurs also 

 westward to the Pacific coast. It is hardly to be supposed 

 that these swallows were indigenous to some restricted 

 locality in the West, whence they suddenly made such a 

 startling exodus; but rather it is believed that they always 

 had existed in isolated spots all over the country, but so 

 far apart, and so- uncommonly, that they were overlooked. 



The experience of the barn-swallow (Hirundo horreorum) 

 has been much the same ; and the Rocky Mountain swallow 

 (Tachycineta thalassina), which breeds in far-separated col- 

 onies throughout the mountainous West, is fast following 

 its example in scraping acquaintance with mankind. 



