6 



In Mexico this beautiful Swallow has been obtained by Mr. Lloyd at Tetuaca in 

 Chihuahua in March. Dr. Couch met with the species also at Saltillo in the State of 

 Coahuila, and Mr. W. B. Richardson has procured specimens in Jalisco, in the Sierra de 

 Bolanos, in July, at 3500 feet ; these specimens, now in the Salvin-Godman collection, are 

 in worn plumage and were ajiparently breeding. 



The species appears to be not rare in the Valley of Mexico, for numerous examples 

 were j^rocured by M. Ferrari-Perez between the months of January and July. The 

 following are the localities as evidenced by the series in the Salvin-Godman collection : — 

 Tetelco (Xochimilco), Jan. 18 ; Coapa (Tlalpam), Feb. 29, March 6 ; Mexicalcingo 

 (Tlalpam), Feb. 6 ; Axotla (Tacubaya), March 4 ; Huipulco (Tlalpam), April 23 ; Atoto- 

 nilco (Huejotziugo), April 15, July 15 ; Chimalpa (Tacubaya), May 4. The specimen 

 obtained at Huipulco on the 23rd of April looks as if it had somewhat abraded plumage, 

 as if nesting ; and the bird procured at Atotonilco in July is in full moult, and has 

 already put on some of the winter secondaries witli white edges. M. Duges gives the 

 Hacienda de Tapatero as a locality. 



The late Mr. Sumichrast found that in the State of Vera Cruz the species was resident, 

 being seen not only in the hot belt of the coast, but also in tlie temperate region and 

 throughout the plateau at almost all heights, being everywhere very common. Messrs. 

 Eaird, Brewer, and Ridgway state that the species breeds on the plateau of Vera Cruz ; 

 but, as Messrs. Salvin and Godman have j)ointed out in the ' Biologia,' there is nothing 

 in Sumichrast's published papers to confirm this assertion, though it is most probable 

 that the Violet-and-Green Swallow really does breed there, as it is included by 

 Sumichrast in his list of the resident birds of the State. In Orizaba it has been collected 

 by Le Strange and by Sumichrast. Mr. Godman procured specimens at Pinal and 

 Amecameca in the State of Puebla in April, and his collector, Manuel Trtijillo, has also 

 met with the species in Oaxaca, viz. at Villa Alta in March, and at Totontepec in 

 February. Messrs. Salvin and Godman remark : — " In Guatemala we only observed it 

 in the winter months, from November till March. It was then common about the open 

 lands near Dueiias and about the plains of San Gerunimo, at an elevation of about 

 3000 feet. It has also been obtained bv Mr. Sara: at Coban." 



The best summary of the facts connected with the breeding of the Violet-and-Green 

 Swallow is given by Professor Elliott Coues in his ' Birds of the Colorado Valley,' from 

 which work we make the extracts given below. The earliest accounts of the breeding of 

 the species are those of Townsend and Nuttall, the former stating that it built a " nest 

 of mud and hay on clay bluffs," and that it also nested in hollow trees. " The latter 

 statement," says Professor Coues, " is correct ; in making the former, Townsend seems 

 to have got the species mixed with the Cliff-Swallow. Nuttall says that they appeared 

 to occupy nests of the Cliff-Swallow, instead of building for themselves, and supposes 

 them to sometimes breed in trees. Audubon supplied Dr. Brewer with a drawing of an 

 egg of this species, got by Nuttall in Oregon, which Dr. Brewer says was the first know- 

 ledge he acquired of the ' markings ' of the egg. Tiie error about the egg and nidification 



