Daring Sallies of the Purple Swallow. 1 5 1 



with that rapidity of flight for which they are famous, fly 

 straight at some unsuspecting sparrow-hawk which happened 

 to pass overhead. The latter, apparently aware of the par- 

 ticular birds that were tormenting him, would increase his 

 flight, as with loud screams they pounced down on him, until 

 he was fairly driven beyond the precincts of the town, when 

 all wheeled about and trooped back to their different stations. 

 It is the same with every bird that comes near the cot ; 

 they even attack cats, and hunt away robins and the crow- 

 blackbird, which sometimes establishes itself in the cots before 

 their advent in spring. 



The cliff swallow and the last species are said to have been 

 unknown in Eastern America until shortly before the Revo- 

 lutionary War.* If this assertion be correct, we have a 

 good illustration of the influence of civilization on the geo- 

 graphical distribution of birds. At all events, the above species 

 is common on the seaboard of the province where it breeds, 

 arriving early in May; I did not observe it in central New 

 Brunswick, but Mr. Boardman states that it is a regular 

 summer visitor along the shores of the Bay of Fundy,f but 

 does not remark on its breeding retreats. The former 

 swallow, usurping the towns and settlements, probably drives 

 off the others from its haunts; hence the barn and white-bellied 

 swallows are seldom seen in situations where the former 

 has taken up its abode, whilst the sand martin, as else- 

 where, affects the sides of rivers and sandy banks. But the 



* With reference to the cliff swallow, Mr. Peabody states : " The first 

 account of its habits was derived from Long's expedition to the Rocky- 

 Mountains. Since that time the whole body have commenced a great 

 system of emigration, moving gradually on towards the Atlantic, till now 

 it is become quite common in many parts of New England ; its wild 

 practice was to build against the sides of cliffs, but when it comes into 

 civilized life it builds under eaves and cornices where its nest is partially 

 sheltered from the rain." — Birds of Massachusetts, Reports of the Zoologi- 

 cal Survey of the State, p. 345. Boston, 1838. I think Audubon makes a 

 statement to the same effect. 



t See Catalogue, Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc, 1862, p. 125. 



