396 



black. In the male bird, gray predominates, the 

 head being of that colour, minutely mottled with 

 klack, and having two lines of the same colour 

 running down the crown ; the wings and tail are 

 marked with indistinct mottled bars of gray, 

 brownish black, or orange yellow ; the more con- 

 spicuous marks, however, are a line of white 

 running from the corners of the mouth below the 

 auriculars ; two oval spots on the throat, which 

 nearly converge together in the middle ; a large 

 oval spot of pure white on the inner web of each 

 of the three first quills, and the tips of the two 

 outer feathers being of the same colour. In the 

 female, all the plumage is more subdued and 

 blended, and the white markings are of an 

 oehraceous yellow. 



The family of the Hirundinida, or Swallows, 

 possesses great interest, both on account of their 

 typical station in their tribe, and from the vast 

 destruction which they make among a train of 

 beings, in many instances extremely destructive 

 to various kinds of our productions, and they 

 hare also created much speculation from the fact 

 of their entering into a state of torpidity, either 

 in holes or under water, being advanced with 

 much confidence and maintained by men who 

 were considered to be possessed of great learning 

 and information. In the last family, nocturnal 

 in its habits, we noticed that a foreign species 

 was known which fed and hunted during the day ; 

 in like manner, do we find in our present group 



