a te De 
ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. 
HIRUNDO SERRIPENNIS. 
On the afternoon of the 20th of October 1819, I was walking along 
the shores of a forest-margined lake, a few miles from Bayou Sara, in pur- 
suit of some Ibises, when I observed a flock of small Swallows bearing 
so great a resemblance to our common Sand Martin, that I at first paid 
little attention to them. The Ibises proving too wild to be approach- 
ed, I relinquished the pursuit, and being fatigued by a long day’s ex- 
ertion, I leaned against a tree, and gazed on the Swallows, wishing 
that I could travel with as much ease and rapidity as they, and thus 
return to my family as readily as they could to their winter quarters. 
How it happened I cannot now recollect, but I thought of shooting 
some of them, perhaps to see how expert I might prove on other occa- 
sions. Off went a shot, and down came one of the birds, which my dog 
brought to me between his lips. Another, a third, a fourth, and at 
last a fifth were procured. The ever-continuing desire of comparing 
, one bird with another led me to take them up. I thought them rather 
large, and therefore placed them in my bag, and proceeded slowly to- 
ward the plantation of Witt1am Perry, Esq., with whom I had for a 
time taken up my residence. 
The bill and feet of the Swallows were pure black, and both, I thought, 
were larger than in the Sand Martin ; but differences like these I seldom 
hold in much estimation, well knowing from long experience, that in- 
dividuals of any species may vary in these respects. I was more 
startled when I saw not a vestige of the short feathers usually found 
near the junction of the hind toe with the tarsus in the common species, 
and equally so when I observed that the bird in my hand had a nearly 
even tail, with broad rounded feathers, the outer destitute of the nar- 
- row margin of white. At this time my observations went no farther. 
Doubts have been expressed by learned ornithologists respecting 
the identity of the Common Sand Martin of America and that of Eu- 
rope. Some of them in their treatises write Hirundo riparia? or Cotyle 
riparia? which in my opinion is foolish, especially if no reason be given 
VOL. Iv. Pp 
