( 353 ) 

 THE REPUBLICAN OR CLIFF SWALLOW. 



HiRUNDO FULVA, ViEILL. 

 PLATE LXVIII. Male, Female, and Nests. 



In the spring of 1815, I for the first time saw a few individuals of this 

 species at Henderson, on the banks of the Ohio, a hundred and twenty 

 miles below the Falls of that river. It was an excessively cold morning, 

 and nearly all were killed by the severity of the weather. I drew up a 

 description at the time, naming the species H'u-undo repuhlicana, the 

 Republican Swallow, in allusion to the mode in which the individuals be- 

 longing to it associate, for the purpose of forming their nests and rearing 

 their young. Unfortunately, through the carelessness of my assistant, 

 the specimens were lost, and I despaired for years of meeting with 

 others. 



In the year 1819, my hopes were revived by Mr Robert Best, 

 curator of the Western Cincinnati Museum, who informed me that a 

 strange species of bird had made its appearance in the neighbourhood, 

 building nests in clusters, affixed to the walls. In consequence of this 

 information, I immediately crossed the Ohio to New Port, in Kentucky, 

 where he had seen many nests the preceding season ; and no sooner were 

 we landed than the chirruping of my long-lost little strangers saluted my 

 ear. Numbers of them were busily engaged in repairing the damage 

 done to their nests by the storms of the preceding winter. 



Major Oldham of the United States' Army, then commandant of the 

 garrison, politely offered us the means of examining the settlement of 

 these birds, attached to the walls of the building under his charge. He 

 informed us, that, in 1815, he first saw a few of them working against the 

 wall of the house, immediately under the eaves and cornice ; that their 

 work was carried on rapidly and peaceably, and that ag> soon as the 

 young were able to travel, they all departed. Since that period, they 

 had returned every spring, and then amounted to several hundreds. 

 They usually appeared about the lOth of April, and immediately began 

 their work, which was at tliat moment, it being then the 20th of that 

 month, going on in a regular manner, against the walls of the arsenal. 

 They had about fifty nests quite finished^ and others in progress. 



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