BARN SWALLOW. 



125 



away, they are usually very fat. Their nests or particular 

 breeding places I have not been able to discover. 



This minute species is found in Europe, and also at Nootka 

 Sound, on the western coast of America. Length, five inches 

 and a half ; extent, eleven inches ; bill and legs, brownish 

 black ; upper part of the breast, gray brown, mixed with 

 white ; back and upper parts, black ; the whole plumage 

 above, broadly edged with bright bay and yellow ochre ; 

 primaries, black ; greater coverts, the same, tipt with white ; 

 eye, small, dark hazel ; tail, rounded, the four exterior feathers 

 on each side, dull white, the rest, dark brown ; tertials, as long 

 as the primaries ; head above, dark brown, with paler edges ; 

 over the eye, a streak of whitish ; belly and vent, white ; the 

 bill is thick at the base, and very slender towards the point ; 

 the hind toe, small. In some specimens the legs were of a 

 dirty yellowish colour. Sides of the rump, white ; just below 

 the greater coverts, the primaries are crossed with white. 



Very little difference could be perceived between the plumage 

 of the males and females. The bay on the edges of the back 

 and scapulars was rather brighter in the male, and the brown 

 deeper. 



BAEN SWALLOW. (Hirundo Americana.) 



PLATE XXXVIII.-Fig. 1. Male ; Fig. 2. Female. 



Peale's Museum, No. 7609. 



HIRUNDO AMERICANA 1— Wilson. * 

 Hirundo ruf a, Bonap. Synop. p. 64. — Hirundo Americana, North. Zool. ii. p. 329. 



Theee are but few persons in the United States unacquainted 

 with this gay, innocent, and active little bird. Indeed the 

 whole tribe are so distinguished from the rest of small birds 



* Wilson at once perceived the difference between the present species, 

 and, as it is commonly called, the "chimney swallow" of Europe, though 

 many of his contemporaries considered them only as varieties. The 

 Prince of Musignano has, however, considered it as previously described 



