

FULVOUS OR CLIFF SWALLOW. 217 
Hirundo fulva of the western part of New York, I was desi- 
rous of deciding the question by comparing the specimens; this 
I accomplished through the politeness of Dr Dekay of New 
York, who, with the kindness and liberality distinctive of those 
who cultivate science for its own sake, sent me the specimen 
and nest deposited by Mr Clinton in the Cabinet of the Ly- 
ceum. Thus being possessed of the individuals in question, 
we are enabled to place their specific identity beyond the reach 
of future uncertainty.* 
* There can benothing more annoying than being in a manner obliged 
to give an opinion regarding adisputed point from descriptions and plates, 
without the actual comparison of the birds themselves. The authors 
of the “ Northern Zoology” consider the HZ. lunifrons of Say different 
from the H. fulva of Vieillot, on account of the pure white front and 
slightly forked tail of the former ; but the Prince of Musignano makes 
them identical, from actual comparison with authentic specimens of Z. 
fulva. The alternative, therefore, must be, that the specintens brought 
by the Northern Expedition are distinct from either, and yet unnamed. 
Audubon’s figure, however, is very nearly pure white in the frontlet, and 
he insists upon that colour even in the young ;—the tail is square, a 
decided mark of our author. There are either two species confused in 
these, or inattention has been paid to the drawing and colouring of those 
parts where distinction chiefly is insisted on. 
On the precipitous coast of the Firth of Forth, near Tantallon Castle, 
in Haddingtonshire, there was, in 1826, and for several years previous, a 
colony of fifty or sixty pairs of H. urbica, building their nests in the 
usual form, but in the same manner, undera huge projecting cliff, as 
represented of the H. fulva. They struck me at the time of first seeing 
them as a remarkable situation for the species, and the plate here im- 
mediately recalled them tomy memory. Mr Audubon’s description of 
their manner of building may add to that of our author:— 
“ About daybreak they flew down to the shore of the river, one hun- 
dred yards distant, for the muddy sand of which the nests were constructed, 
and worked with great assiduity until near the middle of the day, as if 
it were that the heat of the sun was necessary to dry and harden their 
moist tenements. They then ceased from labour for a few hours amongst 
themselves, by performing aerial evolutions, courted and caressed their 
mates with much affection, and snapped at flies and other insects on the 
wing. They often examined their nests to see if they were sufliciently 
dry ; and as soon as these appeared to have acquired the requisite firm- 
ness, they renewed their labours. Until the females began to sit, they 
