10 



on the 3rd of September by Seiior Alfaro, the Director of the Museum at that place. A 

 second Costa-Rican specimen is stated by Mr. Ridgway to be in the U.S. National 

 Museum. 



Professor Baird has recorded the capture of a specimen by Capt. Dow off the west 

 coast of Central America; and Mr. G. N. Lawrence identified one of McLeaunaa's speci- 

 mens from Panama as belonging to the present species. 



This completes the known Central-American record, and we hear nothing of 

 T. pyrrhonota till we get to Brazil. Here Natterer observed it between September and 

 March, his localities being as follows : — Ytai-are, February and March ; Parnapitanga, 

 December ; Irisanga, December ; Engenho do Cap. Gama, September. Its occurrence 

 in Paraguay is recorded by Azara ; and Mr. Durnford's notes on the species near Buenos 

 Ayres are as follows : — 



"The only occasion on which I have seen this bird w T as on the 25th of March of the 

 present year, when I observed about half a dozen at different times during the day, all 

 flying steadily in a north-easterly direction. This was about thirty miles to the west of 

 Buenos Ayres. Prom their manner of flight, always keeping in the same general course, 

 though occasionally turning aside to chase some insect, I have no doubt they were 

 migrating : they kept about ten feet from the ground. At a distance they are not easy 

 to distinguish from Hirundo leucorrhoa ; but on a nearer approach their greater size and 

 chocolate throat, but more especially their reddish-brown rumps, are clearly discernible. 

 The museum possesses one specimen, killed in this neighbourhood." Writing again in 

 1878, he says : — " This Swallow was observed on its migration on the -1th March, 1877, 

 at Moreno, and on the 15th April, 1877, at Lujan bridge. On both occasions they were 

 flying steadily N.N.E., and in considerable numbers. I shot some on each occasion, to 

 be sure of the identification." 



Mr. Gibson even says that the species breeds in its winter-quarters, for in his paper 

 on the birds of Paysandu in Uruguay he gives a note : — " Found a nest in the wall of 

 outbuildings 18th November, containing young and an addled egg." 



This statement requires confirmation, as will be seen by Mr. Hudson's note in the 

 4 Argentine Ornithology 'written by Dr. Sclater and himself, where the habitat of the 

 species is given as " South" America, surely a misprint for "North" America. 



Mr. Hudson observes : — " This species does not breed in Buenos Ayres, and is only 

 seen there in spring, flying south or south-west, and again in much larger numbers on 

 its return journey in autumn. On the Bio Negro, in Patagonia, I did not meet with it, 

 and suppose that its summer resort must be south of that locality ; and, judging from 

 the immense numbers visible in some seasons, I should think that they must, in their 

 breeding-place in Patagonia, occupy a very extensive area. They do not seem to be as 

 regular in their movements as other Swallows here ; some years I have observed them 

 passing singly or in small parties during the entire hot season : usually they begin to 

 appear, flying north, in February; but in some years not until after the middle of 

 March. They are not seen passing with a rapid flight in close flocks, but straggle about, 



