4 



The young bird described is from Guatemala^ and shows thatj as in H. rustica, the plumage of the 

 young gets completely bleached before it puts on the full spring dress in which it retiarns to 

 its summer home. The remains of blackish markings on the lower throat indicate an approach 

 to a complete band. 



There would appear to be some considerable difference in the depth of the rufous colouring of the under 

 surface, some specimens being so richly coloured that they can scarcely be distinguished from 

 H. tytleri, but, as a rule, the rufous under surface has a more vinous tinge in the latter species. 



Hab. Eastern Siberia in summer, visiting the Burmese countries in winter. Nearly the whole of 

 North America in summer, wintering in South America. 



The present species is distributed over nearly the whole of North America, and is an 

 occasional visitor in South Greenland, according to Mr. Hagerup. Professor Reinhardt 

 gives the following note: — "Nearly thirty years ago a specimen was obtained at Fis- 

 kensesset by the late botanist Dr. Vahl, and sent to the Royal Museum. A second was 

 shot at Nenortalik and procured for the Eoyal Museum in 1856. As far as I am 

 informed, these two specimens are the only ones ever met with in Greenland." 



In Labrador, Mr. L. M. Turner says that it breeds at Hamilton Inlet. It apparently 

 extends across the northern part of America, as it is said by Sir John Richardson to 

 breed within the Arctic Circle in May, and to leave early in August. He writes : — 

 " When Fort Fi'anklin was erected, on the shores of Great Bear Lake, in the autumn of 

 1825, we found many of its nests in the ruins of a house that had been abandoned for 

 more than ten years. Towards the end of the following May the birds themselves made 

 their appearance, and immediately commenced a survey of the different buildings ; but 

 the storehouses having been repaired, without reference to the poor Swallows, they found 

 no entrance, and after lingering about their old haunts for a week, they flew off in search 

 of other quarters. At Fort Chepewyan, lat. 57°, the Barn-Swallows have regularly, 

 about the 15th of May, for a number of years, taken possession of their nests of mud and 

 straw, constructed within an outhouse, and we observed numbers of them in the same 

 month at Fort Good Hope (in lat. &1^°), the most northerly post in America." It 

 has been found at Fort Rae, on the Great Slave Lake, but is said by Mr. Ross 

 to be rare there. Mr. MacFarlane did not meet with the species in the Mackenzie 

 River, nor does it seem to reach Point Barrow, as it is not included in the list of birds 

 observed there by Dr. Murdoch. 



Mr. Turner writes : — " The distribution of the Barn-Swallow in Alaska is well 

 made out. It is a regular visitor to aU littoral Alaska, as far along the northern coast 

 as Unalakhlit in lat. 05° N., while in the interior it is found all along the immense 

 Yukon River. Along the peninsula of Alaska it is sparingly found. It appears in 

 scanty numbers at Iliuliuk, on Unalaska Island, and breeds there. During the spring 

 of 1879 not one was seen at this place, neither were there any seen during the summer 

 or fall. It was an exceptionally boisterous year, and a succession of gale after gale 



