l88 HIRUNDINID^E : SWALLOWS. 



not special attention paid to the distinctions between 

 the two. Writing in 1868, Dr. Coues remarks : " It is 

 very singular that there should be no instances on 

 record of the occurrence in New England of the 

 Rough-winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis, 

 as the species certainly ought to be found there ; " and 

 down to 1875 the evidence had not been forthcoming, 

 the name not occurring in Dr. Brewer's list of that date. 

 The first New England record was made by Mr. H. 

 A. Purdie, who speaks of a female taken at Suffield, 

 Conn., by Mr. E. I. Shores, June 6, 1875 (Bull. Nutt. 

 Club, iii, 1877, p. 21 ). This occurrence was recog- 

 nized, of course, in Mr. MerrianVs Review (p. 31), 

 and with the ^additional information that Mr. E. P. 

 Bicknell had found the bird breeding in numbers at 

 Riverdale, N. Y., within a few miles of the Connec- 

 ticut line. It remained for Mr. J. A. Stannis (Bull. 

 Nutt. Club, iv, 1879, P- TI 9) to attest tne constant 

 and regular nesting of the Rough-wing in Connecticut, 

 near New Haven. He found it breeding at Green's 

 Farms, in stone abutments along the N. Y. & N. E. 

 R. R., seemingly in no wise disturbed by the thirty 

 trains that passed daily within a few feet of their nests. 

 " Half a dozen pairs nested there last season, and per- 

 haps more ; but, judging from the number seen, I 

 should say there were fewer than during the season of 

 1877." His observations extend over three summers, 

 showing the occurrence to be not fortuitous. There is 

 as yet, I believe, no Massachusetts record ; but as the 

 question, in the case of a bird of such powers of wing 

 as a Swallow, is scarcely one of Faunal areas, the 

 Rough-wing is liable to be heard from in any portion 

 of New England. Instances of further occurrence 



