procured bv Dr. Fisher at Sing Sing, N.Y., in August, several of tlie specimens are in active moult. 

 These may be the earlier hatched individuals, as some specimens have not commenced to moult. 



Hab. North America at large, migrating down Central America to Brazil and the Argentine Republic. 



The Cliff-Swallow of North America is distinguished by its sandy-buff frontal band and 

 rufous rump and throat. 



Its range iu summer is verv extensive, but the line of its winter migrations is still 

 somewhat difficult to indicate, as it has occurred in various parts of Central America, 

 but principally on the Eastern or Atlantic side, so that it is probably by this route that 

 the species finds its way to its winter home in South America, where it visits Brazil and 

 the Argentine Republic. The earliest assured name of the species is undoubtedly 

 Hirundo pyrrhonota of Vieillot, founded on Azara's " Golondrina rabadilla acanelada " ; 

 and although Professor Ridgway challenges this identification, there can scarcely be any 

 doubt that it is correct. 



The best account of the species in North America is that published by Professor 

 Elliott Coues in his ' Birds of the Colorado Valley,' and this is such a perfect Monograph 

 of the Cliff-Swallow that we cannot resist quoting it in its entirety : — 



" Discovery of this notable Swallow, commonly attributed to Say, was made long 

 before Long's expedition to the Pocky Mountains, though the species was first named 

 in the book which treats of that interesting journey. The bird may have been discovered 

 by the celebrated John Peinhold Eorster ; at any rate, the earliest note I have in hand 

 respecting the Cliff-Swallow is Porster's, dating 1772, when this naturalist published in 

 the Philosophical Transactions 'An Account of the Birds sent from Hudson's Bay ; with 

 observations relative to their Natural History, and Latin Descriptions of some of the 

 most Uncommon,' — a rather noted paper, in which seven new species, viz. Falco spadiceus, 

 Strix nebulosa, Emberiza [i. e. Zonotrichia] leucophrys, Fringilla [i. e. Juncd] hudsonius, 

 Muscicapa [i. e. Dendrceca] striata, Parus hudsonicus, and Scolopax [i. e. Numenius] 

 borealis, are described, with references to various other new birds by number, such as 

 ' Tardus No. 22,' which is Scolecophagus ferrugineus, and ' Hirundo No. 35,' which is 

 JPetrochelidon lunifrons. The next observer — in fact, a rediscoverer — was, perhaps, 

 Audubon, who says that he saw Republican or Cliff Swallows for the first time in 1815, 

 at Henderson, on the Ohio ; that he drew up a description at the time, naming the species 

 Hirundo republicana [sic] ; and that he again saw the same bird in 1819 at Newport, 

 Ky., where they usually appeared about the 10th of April, and had that year finished 

 about fifty nests by the 20th of the same month. The next year, namely 1820, Major 

 Long and Sir John Pranklin found these birds again, in widely remote regions, the first- 

 named during his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and the latter on the journey from 

 Cumberland House to Eort Enterprise, and on the banks of Point Lake, in latitude 65°, 

 where its earliest arrival was noted the following year on the 12th of June. Dr. Richard- 

 son says that their clustered nests are of frequent occurrence on the faces of cliffs of the' 



