hirundinidjE. 331 



The female has the under plumage paler, the purple of the back less vivid, and the exterior 

 tail feathers a quarter of an inch shorter. 











Dimensions. 















Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. 



Lin. 





Inch. Lin. 



flgt 



h, total 



• 7 



3 



Length of bill above . 



. 



3 



Length of middle nail 



• 21 



99 



of tail 



3 



6 



„ of bill to rictus . 







7* 



,, of hind toe 



. 3 



99 



of tail in middle 



. 2 







,, of tarsus 







6 



„ of its nail 



• 2i 



99 



of wing 



4 



8 



,, of middle toe . 



. 



5 





— R. 



[116. J 3. Hirundo lunifrons. (Say.) White-fronted or Cliff Swallow. 



Genus, Hirundo, Linn. 



Cliff Swallow (Hirundo lunifrons). Say, Long's Exp., ii., pp. 235, 349 (Am. Ed., p. 47). 



Hirundo fulva. Bonap. Syn., No. 73 ; Orn., i., p. C3, pi. 7, f- 1 ?" 



This species was discovered in 1820, by Major Long, near the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, where it abounds. In the same year it was seen in great numbers by Sir 

 John Franklin's party, on the journey from Cumberland House to Fort Enterprise, 

 and on the banks of Point Lake, in latitude 65°, where its earliest arrival was 

 noted, in the following year, to be the 12th of June. Its clustered nests are of 

 frequent occurrence on the faces of the rocky cliffs of the Barren Grounds, and 

 they are not uncommon throughout the whole course of the Slave and Mackenzie 

 Rivers. On the 25th of June, in the year 1825, a number of them made their 

 first appearance at Fort Chepewyan, and built their nests under the eaves of the 

 dwelling-house, which are about six feet above a balcony, that extends the whole 

 length of the building, and is a frequented promenade. They had thus to graze 

 the heads of the passengers on entering their nests, and were moreover exposed 

 to the curiosity and depredations of the children, to whom they were novelties ; 

 yet they preferred the dwelling-house to the more lofty eaves of the storehouses, 

 and in the following season returned with augmented numbers to the same spot. 

 Fort Chepewyan has existed for many years, and trading-posts, though far distant 

 from each other, have been established in the fur-countries for a century and a 

 half; yet this, as far as I could learn, is the first instance of this species of 

 Swallow placing itself under the protection of man within the widely extended 



* We consider the Hirundo fulva of M. Vieillot (Ois. de V Am., pi. 32) as distinct from the lunifrons of M. Say. In 

 the first the front is invariably snow-white, while the latter is described as having this part reddish-brown (brun rouge- 

 atre), and the breast yellowish ; in both, however, the tail is slightly forked. A third species, our H. melanogaster 

 (Syn. of Mex. Birds, No. 5), differs from both, in having the front, and also the throat, deep and bright rufous. — Sw. 



2 U 2 



