BIRDS. 197 



The under parts bave a diflfused smoty appearauce, owing to the wash of fulvous brown. There is 

 considerable Tariation between adults of the same locality, but the National Museum series does 

 not appear to indicate any geographical differences. 



Peteochelidon LiTNiFEONS (Say). Cliff-swallow. 



The lack of proper surroundings on the coast of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean appears to 

 limit the range of this bird to the interior, and although I kept a continual lookout for it during 

 my residence in the north I did not see a single individual. At Nulato Dall records its arrival 

 from May 10 to 16, and from these dates up to the 24t)). At the same place he found it nesting com- 

 monly about the trading stations, and was told by the natives that it nested on the faces of the 

 sandstone cliffs along the Yukon before the advent of the white man placed at its disposal the 

 convenient shelter of the trading posts. The birds were quick to take advantage of the hospitality 

 offered them, and to change from their iirimitive nesting-sites to civilized domiciles. 



It is also found breeding at Fort Yukon. Mr. Dall records the presence of this bird at 

 Saint Michaels, but not one was seen during the four years passed by me at that place, and the 

 evidence seems to point to a mistaken identification whereby the common Barn Swallow (which 

 is very common there) was mistaken for the present bird. These swallows are recorded from Point 

 Lake, in latitude 65°, in British North America, and in Alaska they are known to extend north 

 of the Arctic Circle. Its extension north to the Arctic Ocean is doubtful — at least in our Territorj- — 

 owing to the low and unsuitable nature of the country, in addition to the harsh and repelling 

 climate. There is a single specimen in the National Museum collection obtained by Kennicott at 

 Fort Eesolution June 23, and this and the points previously given constitute the northernmost 

 limits of its known range. There is no evidence of its presence in the southeastern part of the 

 Territory. 



Chelibon erythrogastek (Bodd.). Barn Swallow (Esk. Til lii-Mghund guk.) 



This bird is the most common and widely distributed of the swallows throughout the north. 

 In Alaska it is found along the southeastern coast, extending thence over nearly the entire 

 Aleutian chain, and north along the coast of the mainland to Kotzebue Sound, and thence east 

 throughout the Territory wherever suitable situations occur. It arrives at Saint Michaels from 

 May 27 to 20. and leaves toward the end of August. At Port Clarence, in Bering Straits, Dr. 

 Adams found them breeding in the summer of 1851. At Unalaska, June 2 and 3, 1877, 1 saw a 

 number of these swallows skimming about and over the village. Dall found them at various points 

 on the Aleutian Islands, and they nest at Unalaska. The latter reports seeing a swallow at Atka 

 Island, at the extreme western part of the chain, which was undoubtedly this species. About the 

 middle of May they arrive at Nulato, where they breed, as they do also at Fort Yukon and the 

 other fur-trading stations along the Yukon. 



(\me\m^>i Hi rundo adonalashkcHsis is undoubtedly referable to the common Barn Swallow, from 

 the fact that ainoag the various naturalists who have visited these islands — since Gmelin's bird 

 was obtained — no one has recorded any but the ordinary Barn Swallow, and this has been found 

 by nearly every one visiting this portion of the Territory during summer. 



Before the advent of the fur traders these birds nested in the deserted huts of the natives, as, 

 in fact, they do in many instances, at present, and sometimes they even share with their owners 

 the summer-houses on the Lower Yukon. Ou the north coast of Kotzebue Sound, in the autumn 

 of 1S81, I found two nests of these birds in a large cleft of the rocks, into v> liicli the waves beat. 

 Their nests were seen in deserted huts on the same shore. 



This swallow arrives as soon as mild spring weather sets in, generally from the ISth to the 

 23d of May. The sea is still covered with an unbroken surface of ice as far as the eye can reach, 

 and winter appears to be hardly gone when the first ai-rivals reach Saint Michaels and come 

 fluttering about their former nesting sites. Those whose ne^ts were in the old out houses, the 

 wiudows of which are left open in summer, but are now closed, try vainly to enter, and flutter just 

 before the glass, until exhausted and driven to perch on the roofs of the buildings, or uiton an 



