15 



panies this can only be compared to the falling of au immense torrent, or the riishin"- of 

 a violent gust of wind. Indeed, to an. observer, it seems wonderful that tliousands of 

 these birds are not destroyed, in being thus propelled to the earth with such irresistible 

 force." Although Dr. Coues thinks it probable that the above note refers to tlie "White- 

 bellied Swallow, we cannot help an impression that the species intended must have been 

 a Swift of some sort. 



Messrs. Jones and Wedderburn have mentioned its occurrence in the Bermudas. 

 The former states that a great ilight of Swallows appeared on the 22nd of SeptemVjer, 

 1849, when this species was numerous, although never previously ol)served. 



Dr. Gundlach records the species as a regular winter visitor to Cuba, where it 

 arrives later than Hirimdo erijthrogaMra, remaining for the winter and leaving again in 

 April ; and in his work on the birds of the Bahamas Mr. Cory writes : — 



" I have included this Swallow on the authority of Mr. L. J. K. Brace, of Xassau, 

 who says : 'During the stormy weather of December 1st and 2nd of last year, a number 

 of these birds were to be seen flying about. On the 1st, I only saw three, ])ut on the 

 2nd a great many, which flew very low, close to the ground ; two flew inside the house, 

 and clung for a few minutes to the edge of a shelf, but before they could be secured, 

 iiew out again. On the 4tli, the weather moderating, not one was to be seen.' It is 

 exceedingly unfortunate that a specimen was not killed, as the resemblance, even at a 

 short distance, of the Bahama Swallow to the present species is so close as to render 

 identification difficult, and the capture of a specimen would have removed all doubts of 

 its identity." 



Tlie AVhite-bellied Swallow has also occurred once in Great Britain. "Wolley records 

 a specimen in the ' Zoologist ' for 1853 (p. 380G) : — 



" Some months ago my friend, Mr. John Evans of Darley Abbey, sent for my 

 inspection, and afterwards kindly presented to me, the skin of a sort of Swallow Avhose 

 name he had not been able to ascertain, of which he gave me tlu^ i'ollowinn' account : — 

 One day that he called at the shop of Mr. Cooke, a Inrd-stuiTer and ]\luseuni-kecpor in 

 Derby, in the summer of the year 1850, he was shown tlie skin of a bird \vliicli had 

 lately been shot at the Siddals (the name of some common land, I believe, in the suburli-- 

 of Derby) witli eleven Sand-Martius, with which this luul been considered tu make a 

 twelfth ; in skinning them, Mr. Cooke had remarked that it was not like the others, and 

 he thought it a variety, but asked Mr. John Evans his opinion of it. Tlial gciitlcniaii 

 did not knf)W what it was, ])ut he bought the skin for one shilling, and has liad it in liis 

 possession from that time till he gave it to me some months ago, as L nicnlioui'd brfore. 

 A[r. Cooke is since dead. The circumstance of his havini;' skinncl the liiiils himsril', 

 makes it appear improbable that he should have mule a misiaki', and .Mr. i;\ans assun's 

 me that he does not think there were any foreign skins about. I shouKl add, that I 

 believ(! thcri; is no ])ossibility o!' ernu' since tiie skin cainc into .Mi'. Ilvaiiss possession. 



Brijwer, in his ' North-American Oology,' liasgiNcn the followiii^- accounl of the 

 species: — 



" In the habits of dilTerent individuals of this sneeies we liiii iirc-^i-nti-il. in remark- 



