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round in a compact mass, and every now and then settling on some low shrubs, weighing 

 down the outer boughs and crowding together like a swarm of bees. "We could detect 

 no object in this assemblage ; it was neither the season of migration, nor was it the 

 roosting-time, as it took place in the afternoon of a bright sunny day." 



Dr. Elliott Cones has published an interesting account of the habits of the species, 

 from which we make the following extract : — 



" Swallows are not seldom seen at sea, being among the birds that most frequently 

 alight on the rigging of vessels, beyond sight of land, to rest and recruit before pushing 

 on their trackless Avay. The pretty Wbite-bellied Swallow, in dress-suit of snowy vest 

 and literal ' swallow-tail ' — for have we not such a name for a particular garment ? — has 

 been known to accomplish a trans- Atlantic voyage successfully, and reach the shores of 

 tbe old country only to be captured and made a paragraph of. This shows what he can 

 do when he really tries to fly ; bis movements over the land are the veriest sauntering 

 in comparison. The White-belly seems, from another circumstance, to be one of the 

 hardiest of our Swallows ; for it is conspicuous among the winter birds of Florida, and 

 doubtless other j)arts of the Gulf coast. Mr. Boardman tells nie, viva voce, that countless 

 thousands enjoy the serenity of the Floridan winters ; and, like the Bluebird, the White- 

 belly is not seldom tempted by the treachery of the ' January thaw ' to come un- 

 guardedly northward, being the species which, perhaps oftener than any other of the 

 family, is noted as occurring unexpectedly beyond its usual range in winter, and thus 

 by no means making a summer. A case of this sort came within my experience at Fort 

 Macon, North Carolina, where numbers of these Swallows appeared one warm day in 

 early January, though there had been a smart freeze just before. The flock played 

 about the fort, but were soon driven off by bad weather ; they Avere next seen again on the 

 20th of the month, and occasionally from that time until the regular migration. From 

 their winter-homes, not only in the Gulf States and in Southern California, but in 

 Mexico, the West Indies, and Central America, these birds spread northward in March 

 and April, from one side of the continent to the other, and some proceed to the Arctic 

 regions. They breed independently of latitude, some on the highlands of Mexico, and 

 anywhere in the West ; but in the East, their usual breeding-range is said to be north of 

 the parallel of 38°. How unexcej)tionally this may hold I do not know ; but these 

 Swallows are especially recognized as sumiuer visitors in northerly parts of the United 

 States, as New England, for example, and in the British Provinces. 



" Unlike the Barn and Eave Swallows, the glossy T. viriclisoi Wilson is a coirfirmed 

 hole-breeder, rather jealous of the ancient customs of its family, and slow to yield to the 

 allurements of civilization, even thoirgh the most tempting boxes be presented to its 

 choice. When it will, it Avill, and when it won't, the Purple Martins must be depended 

 on to fill the neat little houses tliat we build to entice the Swallows. In Eastern 

 Massachusetts, says Dr. Brewer, the change of habit is confirmed. In parts of Maine 

 and NcAV Brunswick, Mr. Boardman tells me, the exjDeriment is far from successful, as, 

 ten to one, Swallows still nest in holes in trees and stumps. The holloAV tree is the 



