408 University of California Publications in Zoology. [Vou.5 
externally of a mixture of green moss, skeletonized leaves and 
coarse grasses, while in strong contrast there is internally a thick 
lining of fine, round grass stems. 
The three eggs are short-ovate in shape, measuring: 22.6 
18.4, 22.1 17.9, 22.8 * 18.3. The ground color is a very pale 
Nile blue, so overeast by the dark markings as to show clearly 
in but few places. The markings are not clear-cut but are for 
the most part much blurred masses of pigment. The sharpest 
and darkest marks are dots of chestnut. The coalescing nebu- 
lous areas vary from burnt sienna through liver brown to vina- 
ceous. 
Hirundo erythrogaster palmeri Grinnell. 
Alaska Barn Swallow. 
Met with only in the vicinity of Cordova Bay. At least ten 
pairs were nesting on the buildings of the railroad company at 
Cordova, June 3 to 7. A single specimen (no. 1308) was taken 
there. A pair had their nest in the hallway of a cabin at the 
head of Cordova Bay, June 11. At this date nest-building was 
still under way. 
Tachycineta thalassina lepida Mearns. 
Northern Violet-green Swallow. 
Observed only at Cordova, where ten or twelve were seen 
June 3 to 7, and at the head of Cordova Bay. In the latter 
locality several were seen at the mouth of a canyon investigating 
eavities in the cliff, where they may have been nesting. They 
were supposed to be tree swallows until specimens were secured. 
A pair taken on June 13 (nos. 1277, 1278) do not differ in any 
perceptible degree from breeding birds from southern California. 
They are no larger, and one (the male) is actually shorter-winged 
than many Californian examples. We are accustomed to find 
the northernmost individuals of a migratory species, with longest 
wings. But here appears to be an exception. Although the 
southern subspecies of the violet-green swallow from Mexico 
(thalassina) and Lower California (brachyptera) are smallest, 
the larger northern form (lepida) shows no increase in size to- 
wards the northern confines of its habitat. 
