254 MIGRATION. 



retreat. The mode of life of these latter hirundines is very 

 favourable to such a design, for they spend the whole day in 

 the sheltered district between me and the Hanger, sailing about 

 in a placid easy manner, and feasting on those insects which 

 love to haunt a spot so secure from ruffling winds. As my 

 principal object was to discover the place of their roosting, I 

 took care to wait on them before they retired to rest, and was 

 much pleased to find that, for several evenings together, just 

 at a quarter past five in the afternoon, they all scudded away 

 in great haste towards the south-east, and darted down among 

 the low shrubs above the cottages at the end of the hill.* This 



* Our author is most desirous to establish the opinion, that some of 

 the hirundines and their congeners live with us during the winter. In 

 addition to the mass of evidence which we have brought forward regarding 

 the migration of the swallow tribe, we shall conclude this subject with the 

 interesting observations of Audubon, the celebrated American ornithologist, 

 on the republican, or cliff-swallow. " Being extremely desirous of settling 

 the long-agitated question respecting the migration or supposed torpidity 

 of swallows, I embraced every opportunity of examining their habits, 

 carefully noted their arrival and disappearance, and recorded every fact 

 connected with their history. After some years' constant observation 

 and reflection, I remarked, that, among all the species of migratory birds, 

 those that remove farthest from us depart sooner than those which retire 

 only to the confines of the United States ; and, by a parity of reasoning, 

 those that remain later return earlier in the spring. These remarks were 

 confirmed as I advanced towards the south-west on the approach of 

 winter, for I there found numbers of warblers, thrushes, &c. in full 

 feather and song. It was also remarked, that the hirundo viridis of 

 Wilson remained about the city of New Orleans later than any other 

 swallow. As immense numbers of them were seen during the month of 

 November, I kept a diary of the temperature from the 3d of that month, 

 until the arrival of the hirundo purpurea. The following notes are taken 

 from my journal, and, as I had excellent opportunities, during a residence 

 of many years in the country, of visiting the lakes to which these swallows 

 were said to resort during transient frosts, I present them with con- 

 fidence : 



" November 11. Weather very sharp, with a heavy white frost. Swal- 

 lows in abundance during the whole day. On inquiring of the inhabitants 

 if this was an unusual occurrence, I was answered in the affirmative by 

 all the French and Spaniards. From this date to the twenty-second the 

 thermometer averaged sixty-five degrees, the weather generally a drizzly 

 fog. Swallows playing over the city in thousands. 



" November 25 Thermometer this morning at thirty degrees. Ice in 



New Orleans a quarter of an inch thick. The swallows resorted to the 

 lee of the cypress swamp in the rear of the city. Thousands were flying 

 in different flocks. Fourteen were killed at a single shot, all in perfect 

 plumage and very fat. The markets were abundantly supplied with these 

 tender, juicy, and delicious birds. Saw swallows every day, but remarked 

 them more plentiful the stronger the breeze blew from the sea. 



