BIRDS OF NEW YORK 345 



Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons (Say) 

 Cliff Swallow 



Plate 88 



Hirundo lunifrons Say. Long's Exped. 1823. 2:47 (note) 

 Hirundo fulva DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 41, fig. 65 

 Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1010. 



p. 291. No. 612 



petrochelidon, Gr., meaning rock swallow; lunifrons, Lat., moonfronted, referring to 

 the crescentric spot on the forehead 



Description. Forehead huffy white; crown and back steel blue; sides 

 of the head and the throat chestnut; upper tail coverts light rufous or huffy; 

 grayish collar band; neck and breast brownish gray with steel blue patch 

 on the center; abdomen whitish; tail and wings dusky and the tail very 

 slightly forked. Young birds: Similar but duller; easily distinguished 

 from any of our other swallows by the huffy upper tail coverts. 



Length 5-5.5 inches; extent 12-12.75; wing 4.3-4.5; tail 2.25. 



Distribution. The Cliff swallow inhabits North America from the 

 Gulf of Mexico as far as Labrador and the shores of the Arctic ocean. 

 Winters in tropical America. In New York it is known locally through- 

 out the State, but in many sections where it was very common 40 years 

 ago it has almost entirely disappeared. At the present time it seems to 

 be commonest in the Catskill and Adirondack districts and other sparsely 

 inhabited sections of the State. Here it nests almost entirely in com- 

 munities under the eaves of barns, although in the mountainous district 

 it occasionally plasters its nest under the projecting ledges of the cliffs. 

 The spring migration begins from the 13th to the 26th of April. In the 

 fall they disappear from central and western New York from the 8th to 

 the 15th of September; but in the coastal district are occasionally found 

 as late as the 1st or the 10th of October. As a summer resident it must 

 be regarded, on the whole, as less abundant than the Barn, Bank and Tree 

 swallows, but, on the other hand, in some localities, especially the mountain- 

 ous district, it is often more numerous than any other species. One fre- 

 quently sees a line of this species' nests consisting of 50 to 150 thickly 



