The Zoologist — November, 1866. 489 



regretted tbcal this can scarcely be given to the subject without much 

 destruction of swallow-life. 



" I have several times seen a bird which I take to be the barn 

 swallow of America {Hirundo riifa), and which, I believe, is not un- 

 comnion in England. It differs chiefly from H. rustica in having the 

 under parts, from chin to vent, light chestnut instead of white. Mr. 

 W. H. Power says that he has more than once shot swallows with the 

 under part of a light chestnut ; but as these were generally obtained 

 in the spring he took them to be merely fine-coloured males of 

 H. rustica." — p. 124. 



I find the following memorandum in my note-book, under date of 

 October, 1862, and, as it has not been printed, I give it for what it 

 is worth. One thing is perfectly clear, that 1 had no thought what- 

 ever of referring my captures to Wilson's American species, Hirundo 

 rufa : — 



"Passing the Eastern Counties Railway -station, about three in the 

 afternoon, there were a number of young swallows flying very low 

 around and about the shops in front of the station : these little birds 

 were so inexperienced in the ways of the world that they did not 

 attempt to escape a parcel of street boys, who knocked them down 

 with their caps, and offered them for sale at one penny each. I bought 

 eight, laying out eightpence for the mere pleasure of rescuing the 

 birds from the boys. These young swallows had the belly and vent of a 

 decided reddish brown, entirely different from that of adults, a circum- 

 stance which our ornithologists have not noticed : there can be no 

 doubt that this is a migratory movement, and that the birds were 

 young ones, not sufficiently advanced to travel southwards in com- 

 pany with their parents." 



I might select instructive passages to almost any extent; but it is 

 needless: these are sufficient to exhibit, in their proper light, the 

 acumen of the observer and the truthfulness of the record : I umst 

 also invite attention to the kindly spirit which breathes throughout, 

 lighting up each page with a genial word for somebody or something. 

 Such books and such writers deserve success. 



Edward Newman. 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. I. ^ ^ 



