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1,500 miles. At intermediate points it was noted at Emporia, Kans., 
April 11; Richmond, Kans., April 15; Unadilla, Nebr., April 28, and 
Menoken, Dak., May 13. Nearer the Mississippi River it was seen at 
Abbeville, La., March 15; Pierce City, Mo., April 9; Saint Louis, Mo., 
April 11; Paris, Ill, April 12; Hennepin, Ill., April 17; the southern 
edge of Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and the southern edge of Iowa, 
April 19; central Iowa April 22 and 23; central Wisconsin April 29; 
but no part of Minnesota was reached until after the cold wave had left, 
about the middle of May. In the fall of 1885, at Milwaukee, Wis., the 
‘jast Barn Swallow was seen August 31. Great numbers passed Saint 
Louis, Mo., September 8 and 9, and the last disappeared September 14. 
The note which I put into the Ornithologist and Oologist for April, 
1884, page 37, concerning the commonness of this species during the 
winter in southern Louisiana, was not correct. Mr. Edwards, of Abbe- 
ville, La., informs me that it is seldom found there in winter, unless per- 
haps when a long period of warm weather occurs, which happens some- 
times in December. But, however that may be, it enters the United 
States very early. 
614. Tachycineta bicolor (Vieill.). [155.] White-bellied Swallow. 
Breeds abundantly in Manitoba and most parts of the Mississippi 
Valley. This is the only swallow which winters regularly and abun- 
dantly in the United States. From its winter quarters in the Southern 
States it spreads north the earliest of its tribe. Indeed, so early is its 
wigration that it is often overtaken by snow-storms, before which 
it usually retreats, though sometimes it remains to brave the elements. 
At Gainesville, Tex., in the spring of 1884 it did not arrive until April 
30, though in former years it has been known to come by March 3. 
Nearer the Mississippi River, migration must have started early in 
March, probably when the warm wave set in, March 8and March 9, A 
single bird was seen at Burlington, Iowa, March 10, but the regular 
advance occurred about two weeks later. If records of first arrivals 
are to be relied upon they show that the migration of this swallow took 
place much earlier east of the Mississippi than west of it. In Illinois 
and Wisconsin the records of “firsts” were: At Tampico and Chicago, 
Ill., March 24 and 26; at Lake Mills, Wis. April4; and at West 
DePere and Green Bay, Wis., April 6. West of the Mississippi the 
first was reported from Coralville, Iowa, April 19, and Lanesboro, Minn., 
April 27. Two days later the first came in hundreds to Heron Lake, 
Minn., when the sun shone in the afternoon after a cold rainy forenoon. 
The first reached Pine Bend, Minn., May 2, and Frazee City, Minn., 
May 26. Still farther west migration was earlier than alon g the central 
line. At Argusville, Dak., it was seen May 5; and at Oak Point, 
Manitobs, May 3. —— 
In the spring of 1885 the same warm wave which brought the Mar- 
tins to the Upper Mississippi Valley induced many White-bellied Swal. 
lows to visit Missouri and Illinois. During the last two days of March 
