19 



natural and still the usual resort, as we see clearly from study of these birds in the 

 West. 



"I do not think that I ever saw T. hlcolor in Arizona, where T. flialassiiius is not 

 uncommon. Others, however, have found it in that Territory. Captain Bendire speaks 

 of its breeding about Tucson. In Southern Colorado, Mr. Henshaw found it ' not 

 uncommon, though perhaps the rarest of the Swallows.' It is rarer in the Missouri 

 region than the other Swallows are, because most of that country, like the rest of the 

 Great Plateau, does not furnish many good breeding-places. In California, Cooper found 

 the Blue-greens on the summit of the Coast Hange, replacing the Barn and Cliff Swal- 

 lows, and saw what he sujDposed were these birds flying over tlic Sierra Nevada at an 

 elevation of 9000 feet. He speaks of their wintering in some parts of the State, and this 

 is confirmed by the observations of Mr. Hepburn, who states that a few reside during the 

 winter, being reinforced towards the close of February and growing abundant by tlie 

 end of March. They are a mouth later still in British Colombia. I found them breeding 

 at Pembina eai'ly in June, with great numbers of Cliff Swallows. 



" I find no record of the nesting of this species in caves or holes in rocks, though 

 T. thalassimis sometimes does so. Agreeably to its choice of nesting-site, which renders 

 plastering needless, it uses no mud in building its nest, the fabric being loosely con- 

 structed of fine soft hay, with a copious warm lining of feathers. The latter are often so 

 disposed as to curl prettily over the treasure within, like the Acanthus that suggested 

 tlie Corinthian capital ; and the eggs are sometimes almost entirely thus covered. 



" There are some jioints in the earlier history of this Swallow that I wish to rehearse 

 here. I may premise, that though the species Avas named by Wilson riridis, it bad 

 before been called bicolor hj Yieillot ; but that this even is not the root of the matter ; 

 for it was known to Latham and Gmelin as a variety of the European House Martin, 

 Chelklon urhica of Boie and late naturalists. Next, this species is said to depart from 

 the insectivorous customs of its family so far as to feed at times principally on the 

 berries of the myrtle {3Iyrica cerifera). The fact is attested by Wilson, and Audulton 

 speaks of T. hicolor as roosting by night on the drier, as the Erencli Louisianians call this 

 plant. Thirdly, in connection with the well-known fact that these Swallows spend the 

 winter in great numbers in Florida and the Gulf States, some items respecting their 

 enormous congregations have been noted. I have already spoken of the vast assemblage's 

 of SAvallows of various kinds which may be witnessed during the season nf niiui-atiim ; 

 the books arc full of instances, and it seems that tb(> ])resent s])i'cies is no wliit Ijrliind 

 its better-known congeners in this respect. Wilson saw Inmdreds of A\"liite-lii'llii's mi 

 the sandy beach of the Great Egg Harbor. Tlicy " coiniili'lrly (•()\crc(l' tlic luvril.'- 

 bushes of the low islands thereabouts ; a man told liiiu lie had s^'cii ;i liiiiidri'd and two 

 killed at a shot, and we need not presume that a p(>rson would pn'varir.ilc, juv| l'.,r two 

 Swallows. In recording Iiis observations made on ihcsr birds in l,ouisiana. in winter. 

 .Viulubon sp(\aks of 'tbonsan(l>< llyinu' in dill'erenl ihn-ks.' Iml onlv mentions fonrteen 

 killed at a shot. During 1 he winter, he says, many were sheltered in holes about the 



