

T 



114 HlEUNDINIDiE, SWALLOWS. GEN. 46, 47, 48, 49. 



46. Genus PETROCHELIDOIT Cabanis. 



i' ' Cliff Swalloiv. Eave Swallow. Lustrous steel-blue ; forehead whitish (or 

 brown), rump rufous, chin, throat and sides of head chestnut; a steel-blue 

 spot on the throat; breast, sides and generally a cervical collar rusty-gray, 

 whitening on the belly. Young sufficiently similar. 5 ; wing 4J ; tail 2\, 

 nearly square. North America, in all suitable places. Naturally this 

 species builds on cliffs ; but throughout the settled portions of the country 

 it now places its curious bottle-shaped nests of mud under the eaves of 

 barns and outhouses. Nutt. i,603 ; Aud., i, 177, pi. 47 ; Bd., 309. lunifeons. 



f 47. Genus COTYLE Boie. q^ 



\^ Bank Sioalloiv. Sand Martin. Lustreless gray, with a pectoral band of 

 the same ; other under parts white. A curious little tuft of feathers at the 

 bottom of the tarsus. Sexes exactly alike ; young similar, the feathers 

 often skirted with rusty or whitish. 4J-4| ; wing 3|-4 ; tail 2, simply 

 emargiuate. North America, very abundant ; breeds in immense troops in 

 holes excavated in banks of soft earth. Wils., v, 46, pi. 38; Nutt., i, 

 607; Aud., i, 187, pi. 50; Bd., 313 eiparia. 



48. Genus STELGIDOPTEEYX Baird. 



V \^ Rough-winged Swallow. Lustreless brownish-gray, paler below, whiten- 

 ing on the belly. Eather larger than the last ; no feathery tuft on tarsus ; 

 outer web of outer primary, in the <J , converted into a series of recurved 

 hooklets, which are wanting, or much weaker, in the 5 . United States ; 

 rare or wanting in New England. Aud., i, 193, pi. 51 ; Bd., 373 ; Coues, 

 Proc. Phila. Acad., 1866, 37 serripennis. 



49. Genus PROGNE Boie. 



\\ I Purple Martin. Lustrous blue-black ; no purple anywhere. The $ and \ 

 young are much duller above, and more or less white below, streaked with 

 gray. Bill very stout for this family, curved at the end ; nostrils circular, 

 opening upward, not roofed over. Length 7 or moi-e ; wing nearlj' 6 ; tail 

 3J, simply forked. United States, very abundant. Wils., v, 58, pi. 39, 

 f. 2, 3; Nutt., i, 598; Aud., i, 170, pi. 45; Bd., 314. '. . purpurea. 

 Obs. Other species or varieties of Progne, requiring confirmation, are attributed 

 to North America. See Cass., 111., 246 (California) ; Bd., 923, and Eev., 277 

 (Florida). 



Family AMPELID^. 



This appears to be an arbitrary and unnatural association of a few genera that 

 agree in some particulars, but are widely different in others. The composition and 

 position of the group differ with almost every writer ; some place it in Clamatores, 

 next to the Tyrannidoa. I think that the family should bo dismembered ; Baird has 

 already shown how near the Myiadestinoe arc to the true Thrushes, and doubtless 

 the other two subfamilies here presented may )jc pro()erly dissociated. 



