HIRUNUINID.E — TIIK SWALLOWS. 



345 



Hiriiiidii biailor* 



(listinffiiislicil liy tin" fi'alli<'rs nl' llic lliront licintr imic wijiU' to tlicii' rncils, instead ol'luiv- 

 inif llio coiicfiilcil liasi's o|-ayisli as in that sprcii's. 

 k Had. Wliolc Lliiiti'il States, ami liollli tn Slave I.aUe, sniitli to (iiialeliiala; Ueiiiiiida ; 

 ('uba, coiiimoii in wiiilei'. lirceds on talije-lands dl' Mexieo. 



lI.MiiT.s. This Swallow litis (|iiiU' tin (jxtt'iiiluil distribution. Found 

 throu;,diout Xnrtli Anieriua in tlio sua.sons of its niijfnitions, or Ijivediny, it is 

 only ii littlo less riislrirtcd in its iirca of noslinj,' tluui the inccuding spucies. 

 It bi'oc'ds from Lititnde ;>.S' to 

 high Arctic, rej,'ions, and is tilso 

 rosidiMit thr(Ui<ilioiit tlio yctir in 

 the Plateau of Mexico. It is 

 abundant in winter in tiie West 

 Indies, in (Vntnil Anicricn, tmd 

 in Xorthern South Ameiica. It 

 is a coninion bird tibout IJoston, 

 whore it rcjJaces the Piir])le 

 Martin, and is even more abun- 

 dant in the liritish Provinces. 

 Dr. Cooi)er tilso found it a very 

 (joninion species in the western 



portions of Washington Territory, where it was invariably found to breed 

 in hollow trees. In Ciiliforniii he states it to be a more or le.ss constant 

 resident, a few wintering in the .southern portion of the State. He met with 

 it both at Siui Diego tiud at Stockton, in Fi^bruary. He regiirds them as 

 the hardiest of the Swallows, preferring the coast and the mountain-tops 

 for their residence in thtit State. At Santa Cru/ live or si.\ pairs in l.S'iCi 

 were resident throtigii the winter, where he stiw them in Jiiiuiary during 

 the coldest of the se.ison. Tliey roosted in the knot-holes in the houses 

 in which they had ])reviously niised their young. 



Tills Swallow, in tiie more thickly .settled ])ortions of the country in which 

 it breeds, exliil)its a marked depiirture in mtuiy of its habits from those 

 observed in wilder regions. In the latter jilaces we liiid it a comiiaratively 

 wild siiecies, avoiding the society of iiiaii, and breeding exclusively in hollow 

 trees iind stumps, and deserving the uaine l>y which it is known in tlu^ Brit- 

 ish Provinces, of the " Wood Swallow." In the islands of (iniiiil Meiian, 

 in 1851, where repeated attempts had been niiide to induce tliese hirds to 

 build in martin-boxes, the endeavor had l)een entirely unsuccessful. Yet the 

 birds weir so aliundant that hardly ii hollow tree or stum]!, on ccrtiiin of the 

 smaller isltuids, C(aild be found, thtit did not contain a nest of this species. 

 This is still the case on the Patfilic coast, though not exclusively so. It 

 was not until after the publication of his Ornithological P.iogr;i])hy that Au- 

 dubon was aware of any tU'imrture from this mode of nesting on the jtart of 

 this Swidlow, although it had not escaped the notice of AVilson. 



In Eastern Massachusetts these birds have undergone an entire chtuige of 

 44 



