BARN SWALLOW. 353 
had: they died in the summer. Mr. Pearson concludes his very inter- 
esting account in these words:-— 20th January, 1797,—I have now 
in my house, No. 21, Great Newport Street, Long Acre, four Swal- 
lows in moult, in as perfect health as any birds ever appeared to be 
when moulting.” 
The Barn Swallow of the United States has hitherto been con- 
sidered by many writers as the same with the common Chimney 
Swallow of Europe. They differ, however, considerably in color, as 
well as in habits; the European species having the belly and vent 
white, the American species those parts of a bright chestnut; the 
former building in the corners of chimneys, near the top; the latter 
never in such places, but usually in barns, sheds, and other out- 
houses, on beams, braces, rafters, é&c. It is difficult to reconcile 
these constant differences of manners and markings in one and the 
same bird; I shall therefore take the liberty of considering the present 
as a separate and distinct species. 
The Barn Swallow arrives in this part of Pennsylvania from the 
south on the last week in March, or the first week in April, and 
passes on to the north, as far, at least, as the river St. Lawrence. On 
the east side of the great range of the Alleghany, they are dispersed 
very generally over the country, wherever there are habitations, even 
to the summit of high mountains ; but, on account of the greater cold- 
ness of such situations, are usually a week or two later in making 
their appearance there. On the 16th of May, being on a shooting 
expedition on the top of Pocano mountain, Northampton, when the ice 
on that and on several successive mornings was more than a quarter 
of an inch thick, I observed, with surprise, a pair of these Swallows 
which had taken up their abode on a miserable cabin there. It was 
then about sunrise, the ground white with hoar frost, and the inale 
was twittering on the roof by the side of his mate with great spright- 
liness. The man cf the house told me that a single pair came regu- 
larly there every season, and built their nest on a projecting beam 
under the eaves, about six or seven feet from the ground. At the 
bottom of the mountain, in a large barn belonging to the tavern there, 
TI counted upwards of twenty nests, all seemingly occupied. In the 
woods they are never met with; but, as you approach a farm, they 
soon catch the eye, cutting their gambols in the air. Scarcely a barn, 
to which these birds can find access, is without them; and, as public 
feeling is universally in their favor, they are seldom or never dis- 
turbed. The proprietor of the barn last mentioned, a German, assured 
me, that if a man permitted the Swallows to be shot, his cows would 
give bloody milk, and also that no barn where Swallows frequented 
would ever be struck with lightning; and I nodded assent. When 
the tenets of superstition “lean to the side of humanity,” one can 
readily respect them. On the west side of the Alleghany these birds 
become more rare. In travelling through the states of Kentucky and 
Tennessee, from Lexington to the Tennessee River, in the months of 
April and May, I did not see a single individual of this species ; 
though the Purple Martin, and, in some places, the Rank Swallow, was 
numerous. 
Early in May they begin to build. From the size and structure of 
the nest, it is nearly a week before it is completely finished. One of 
30* 
