VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW. 
HIRUNDO THALASSINA, SWAINSON. 
PLATE CCCLXXXV. Mate anp FEMALE. 
Or this, the most beautiful Swallow hitherto discovered within the 
limits of the United States, the following account has been transmitted 
to me by my friend Mr Nurtaty. ‘“ We first met with this elegant 
species within the table-land of the Rocky Mountains, and they were 
particularly abundant around our encampment on Harris Fork, a branch 
of the Colorado of the west. They are nearly always associated with 
the Cliff Swallow, here likewise particularly numerous. Their flight 
and habits are also similar, but their twitter is different, and not much 
unlike the note of our Barn Swallow. In the Rocky Mountains, near 
our camp, we observed them to go in and out of deserted nests of the 
Cliff Swallow, which they appeared to occupy in place of building nests 
of their own. We saw this species afterwards flying familiarly about 
in the vicinity of a farm-house (M. Lz Bourr’s) on an elevated small 
isolated prairie on the banks of the Wahlamet, and as there are no 
cliffs in the vicinity, they probably here breed in trees, as I observed 
the White-bellied Martin do. This beautiful species in ail probability 
extends its limits from hence to the table-land of Mexico, where Mr 
BuLLocn, it seems, found it. 
Dr Townsenp, who afterwards had better opportunities of observ- 
ing the habits,of this bird, thus speaks of it :—‘* Aguila chin chin ot the 
Chinook Indians, inhabits the neighbourhood of the Colorado of the 
west, and breeds along its margins on bluffs of clay, where it attaches 
a nest formed of mud and grasses resembling in some measure that of 
the Cliff Swallow, but wanting the pendulous neck in that of the latter 
species. The eggs are four, of a dark clay colour, with a few spots of 
reddish-brown at the larger end. This species is also found abundant 
on the lower waters of the Columbia River, where 7¢ breeds in hollow 
trees.” 
Dr Townsenp also informs me that in the neighbourhood of the 
Columbia River, the Cliff Swallow attaches its nest to the trunks of 
trees, making it of the same form and materials as elsewhere. From 
