BARlf SWALLOW. 



Ill 



the last ; but, to guard their feet from the bad effects of the 

 damp and cold, he covered the perches with flannel, and had 

 the pleasure to observe that the birds throve extremely well; 

 they sang their song during the winter, and, soon after 

 Christmas, began to moult, which they got through without 

 any difficulty, and lived three or four years, regularly moulting 

 every year at the usual time. On the renewal of their 

 feathers, it appeared that their tails were forked exactly the 

 same as in those birds which return hither in the spring, and 

 in every respect their appearance was the same. These birds, 

 says Mr Pearson, were exhibited to the Society for Promoting 

 Natural History, on the 14th day of February 1786, at the 

 time they were in a deep moult, during a severe frost, when 

 the snow was on the ground. Minutes of this circumstance 

 were entered in the books of the society. These birds died 

 at last from neglect, during a long illness which Mr Pearson 

 had : they died in the summer. Mr Pearson concludes his 

 very interesting account in these words : — '20th January 

 1797 — I have now in my house, No. 21 Great Newport Street, 

 Long Acre, four swallows in moult, in as perfect health as 

 any bird ever appeared to be when moulting.' " 



The barn swallow of the United States has hitherto been 

 considered by many writers as the same with the common 

 chimney swallow of Europe. They differ, however, consider- 

 ably in colour, 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 outhouses, on beams, 

 braces, rafters, &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 



