126 BARN SWALLOW. 



by their sweeping rapidity of flight, their peculiar aerial evolu- 

 tions of wing over our fields and rivers, and through our very 

 streets, from morning to night, that the light of heaven itself, 



by Latham under the title of H. rufa, and again figured as the same by 

 Vieillot. 



The authors of the " Northern Zoology " have again appended the 

 following note to their notice of the bird ; and, in the uncertainty, we 

 have chosen to retain Wilson's original name, until the species is really 

 determined from authentic specimens. 



" It appears to us very doubtful whether the Hirondelle d ventre roux 

 de Cayenne of Buffon {Ed. Sonn. xix. p. 35), of which methodists have 

 made their Hirundo rufa, is really the same as the H. Americana of 

 Wilson. From the evidence we at present have, we are disposed to con- 

 sider them distinct. The only authentic account of the cayenne species 

 is that given by Buffon, which all the compilers have since copied. From 

 this, it appears to be only ./we inches and a half long (French measure ?), 

 ours is fully seven. The front is whitish (le front blanchatre); ours is 

 very deep rufous. But the most remarkable difference between the birds 

 is in the construction of their nests, — the cayenne bird building one 

 without mud, and so long as sometimes to measure a foot and a half, with 

 an opening near the bottom ; the Americana of Wilson, on the contrary, 

 using a good deal of mud ; the length is only seven inches, and the open- 

 ing at top, with an external rim, for the parents occasionally to sit upon. 

 Until this matter is investigated, we cannot suppose that individuals of 

 the same species would, in different countries, build their nests in such 

 very dissimilar ways." 



It appears to be exclusively American, and migrates from north 

 to south, and the reverse. There is a great resemblance between the 

 two species ; but they may be at once distinguished by the pure white 

 and the rich chestnut which clothes the under parts of each, and they 

 would seem to be another of those representing forms which are so fre- 

 quent, and run so closely in colour and habits through both continents. 



Wilson, when mentioning the distinction of this species, includes a 

 difference in habit, from our species building in chimneys, and not in 

 barns, like the American. Chimneys are by no means the common 

 building place of the British swallow, although those in the neighbour- 

 hood of towns may use that resort for want of another, in the same way 

 that those in a mining country use the neglected shafts. In the country, 

 barns, shades of thrashing mills, or any outhouse with an open door or 

 window, under the portico of a front door, are their constant building- 

 place ; and although houses in the country have chimneys as well as 

 those in town, they are very seldom, if ever, resorted to. Their nests 

 are also of the same structure and materials, built with clay mingled 



