450 CASE OF A HYBRID SWALLOW 



II. 



Hirundo norreori-lunifrons* In the July number of the Bulletin of the 

 Nuttall Ornithological Club, received just too late to make use of in the 

 proper connection, Mr. Spencer Trotter describes a remarkably interesting 

 Swallow, determined to be a hybrid between Hirundo horreorum and Petro- 

 chelidon lunifrom. The specimen, shot at Lin wood, Delaware County, Pa., 

 May 22, 1878, by Mr. C. D. Wood, " has been examined by several competent 

 ornithologists, who all pronounce its hybrid nature as unquestionable"; 

 and the description given by Mr. Trotter would seem to warrant such con- 

 clusion. Above, the bird is H. horreorum throughout, excepting the grayish- 

 fulvous rump ; below, it has the black throat-spot and general color of P. 

 lunifrons. The bill is rather thicker, the feet are stronger, and the tarsi 

 more feathered than in H. horreorum; the tail is shorter than in that 

 species, lees deeply forked, with less attenuated outer feathers, and with 

 the white spots not so well marked. Hybridity is very seldom observed 

 among the Swallows, and this is the first recorded instance of its occur- 

 rence in this country. It has, however, been noted in the case of the 

 European Hirundo rustica X Chelidon urbica : see Gloger, Vogel Europas, i. 

 417 ; and Sundevall, Ofvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Forh. for ar 1845, p. 128. 



III. 



A correction. At pp. 394, 395, 1 have quoted some remarks made by Dr. 

 Brewer on the improvement in the architecture of the European House Mar- 

 tin, Chelidon urbica. It appears from a note recently published by this 

 writer t that no such improvement as was alleged has occurred, the nest 

 that is now so well built being that of Hirundo rustica, while that of the 

 Martin continues the same. 



* 1878. TROTTER, S. Description of a Hybrid (Hirundo horreori-lunifrons) 



between two North American Swallows. < Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, 



iii. no. 3, July, 1878, pp. 135, 136. 

 1 1878. BREWER, T. M. [Correction of his error respecting nidification of 



Chelidon urbica (Amer. Nat. Jan. 1878).] <^Amer.Nat. xii. no. 3, 



May, 1878 (pub. about Apr. 19, 1878), p. 336. 



FIG. 48. The Crescent Swallow. (See p. 426.) 



