416 REPUBLICAN OR CLIFF SWALLOW. 



let in some pure white, in others reddish-brown, while in some the fore- 

 head and throat were of a bright and rather deep rufous tint. All these 

 differences I observed in the members of a group, which had their nests 

 under the eaves of the same barn in the State of Maine, where this bird 

 has been known to arrive regularly every spring since the recollection 

 of the oldest inhabitants. Of this I was well assured by Judge Lin- 

 coln of Dennisville, where I saw himdreds of nests of this species. If 

 naturalists are determined to form new species on such slight grounds, 

 their labours will be interminable, but useless. If I had an opportunity 

 of examining the nests, eggs, young and old birds of the Hirundo melano- 

 gaster of my friend Mr Savainson, I should not be much surprised to 

 find it to be no other than the Cliff Swallow. As to figures of birds 

 taken from dried skins, no great reliance can be placed upon their ac- 

 curacy. The eggs of this species measure ten twelfths in length, six 

 and a half twelfths in breadth. 



According to Dr Richardson, this species is abundant in the Fur 

 Countries, where it was seen in great numbers by Sir John Frank- 

 lin's party, on the Jom-ney from Cumberland House to Fort Enter- 

 prise, and on the banks of Point Lake in latitude 65°, N., where its 

 earliest arrival the following year was noted to be the 12th of June. 

 Its clustered nests he states to be of frequent occurrence on the faces 

 of the rocky cliffs of the barren-grounds, and to be not uncommon 

 throughout the whole course of the Slave and Mackenzie Rivers. Dr 

 TowNSEND has found this Swallow on the Rocky Mountains, and along 

 the shores of the Columbia River. 



A female preserved in spirits, and presented by Thomas M acCulloch, 

 Esq., measures to end of tail 5/5 inches; to end of wings Sy'^^; to end of 

 claws 4T'*g ; wing from flexure A^^ : tail 2^^ ; extent of wings 12|. The 

 mouth is as in the other species ; and there is on each side, between the 

 lower j aw and the mucous membrane, a nan-ow salivary gland, which opens 

 in the angle, or near the junction of the crura, apparently by a single duct. 

 The width of the mouth is 6 twelfths. The tongue is 4^ twelfths long, 

 triangular, emarginate and papillate at the base, flat above, the tip rather 

 abrupt and emarginate, thin and horny. The oesophagus is 2 inches 

 long, 2 twelfths in width. The stomach is oblong, 8 twelfths in length, 

 6 twelfths in breadth, moderately muscular, its epithelium tough, longi- 

 tudinally rugous, and of a reddish colour. The contents of the stomach 



