450 CASE OF A HYBEID SWALLOW 



IL 



Hirundo norreori-lunifrons* — In the July number of the Bnlletin of the 

 Nuttall Ornithological Club, received just too late to make use of in the 

 proper connection, Mr. Spencer Trotter describes a remarkably interesting 

 Swallow, determined to be a hybrid between Hirvndo liorreorum and Petro- 

 chelidon lunifrons. The specimen, shot at Lin wood, Delaware County, Pa., 

 May 2-2, 1878, by Mr. C. D.Wood, " has been examined by several competent 

 ornithologists, who all pronounce its hybrid nature as unquestionable " ; 

 and the description given by Mr. Trotter would seem to warrant such con- 

 clusion. Above, the bird is H. horreorum throughout, excepting the grayish- 

 fulvous rump ; below, it has the' black throat-spot and general color of P. 

 lunifrons. The bill is rather thicker, the feet are stronger, and the tarsi 

 more feathered than in S. horreorum; the tail is shorter than in that 

 species, less deeply forked, with less attenuated outer feathers, and with 

 the white spots not so well marked. — Hybridity is very seldom observed 

 among the Swallows, and this is the first recorded instance of its occur- 

 rence in this country. It has, however, been noted in the case of the 

 European Hirundo rustica X Chelidon urbica ; see Gloger, Vogel Europas, i. 

 417 ; and Sundevall, Ofvers. Kongl. Vetensk.-Akad. Forh. for ftr 1845, p. 128. 



III. 



A correction. — At pp. 394, 395, I have quoted some remarks made by Dr. 

 Brewer on the improvement in the architecture of the European House Mar- 

 tin, Chelidon urbica. It appears from a note recently published by this 

 writer t that no such improvement as was alleged has occurred, the nest 

 that is now so well built being that of Hirundo rustica, while that of the 

 Martin continues the same. 



* 1878. Trotter, S. Description of a Hybrid (Hirundo horreori-lunifrons) 



between two North American Swallows. <[ Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, 



iii. no. 3, July, 1878, pp. 135, 136. 

 1 1878. Brewer, T. M. [Correction of his error respecting nidification of 



Chelidon urbica (Amer. Nat. Jan. 1878).] <^Amer.Nat. xii. no. 3, 



May, 1878 (pub. about Apr. 19, 1878), p. 336. 



Fig. 48.— The Crescent Swallow. (See p. 426.) 



