ZOOLOGY. 69 



1846, not a swallow of any description came under my 

 observation, thougli I believe tbey were sufficiently common 

 in Bermuda in September of the former year. 



When the swallow does visit the Bermudas on its southern 

 migration, it makes its appearance with wonderful precision, 

 between the 9th and 16th of August, remaining only for a 

 few days. Why these birds should persist in quitting those 

 islands at a season of the year when the heat is tropical, 

 and the supply of insect food abundant, is a query I will 

 not attempt to answer. Were the periodical want of food, 

 as some writers boldly assert, the principal cause of migra- 

 tion, the swallow would not leave the Bermudas in the 

 manner here stated, or return from the sunny regions of the 

 south, where its natural food abounds at all seasons of the 

 year. Twice only have a few swallows been observed on 

 their vernal flight, in April and May. 



EUBY-THEOATED HUMMING BiED {TrocMhis coluhris). My 

 endeavours to ascertain the truth of the tradition alluded to 

 by Major Wedderbum, ended in disappointment. The bird 

 seen by Mr. Darrell was described to me as greenish in 

 colour, with the tail — the only part visible at times — ^tipped 

 with white. I need not observe that this characteristic 

 appertains to the female. 



VlEGiNiAK Night Hawk {Clwrdeiles Virginianus). When 

 this bird visits the Islands of Bermuda from the north, it 

 invariably appears between the 20th of September and the 

 11th of October, and on its vernal flight from the south, 

 arrives with wonderful precision between the 2Srd and 

 30th of AprU. 



Gosse mentions this bird as present in Jamaica in the 

 month of September, and again about the commencement 



