106 David S. Lee 



Virginia — In the early part of this century, Bailey (1913) recorded 

 the tree swallow as nesting only on the lower Delmarva portion of 

 Virginia where it bred mostly on islands. Murray (1952) summarized 

 the historical nesting status in Virginia as follows: "There is one 

 nesting record for Princess Ann County, June 15, 1927, upper end of 

 Back Bay, Lewis; and one for Aylett, King William County, no date 

 (Auk 14, 408). Palmer found a nest with young on Smith Island, 

 June 10, 1897; and reports one with eggs, May 1894 (Auk 14, 408). 

 Brooks states that it is a 'fairly common summer resident at the 

 higher elevations at least in Highland County (Raven 6, 11-12, 2).' " 



By the late 1970s Larner et al. (1979) noted that the tree swallow 

 was locally common in the Virginia portion of the Delmarva Peninsula 

 and rare elsewhere in the Coastal Plain. In the Piedmont it was a 

 rare and local summer resident, and the first breeding record "in 

 recent years" was recorded in Madison County in 1976. Larner et al. 

 (1979) reported records in the mountains from Augusta, Highland, 

 Russell, and Tazewell counties. In the last decade this species has 

 greatly expanded its range in Virginia with confirmed nesting records 

 in 34 counties (65+ sites) throughout the state and expected or 

 presumed nesting in at least 18 additional counties (Sue Ridd, per- 

 sonal communication 1988; Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas). 



Tennessee — The first nest was discovered at Reelfoot Lake, 

 Tennessee, on 22 May 1918 (Ganier 1964) but from that time until 

 1968 no additional nests were reported; there was only one other 

 observation of these swallows during the breeding season. Olson (1968) 

 found an active nest at Norris Lake in Anderson County in 1968, 

 and the same year Gray (1968) found a nest at Monsanto Ponds in 

 Maury County. The early records were from the western part of the 

 state adjacent to the Mississippi River. Since 1968 nests have been 

 reported in Tennessee almost annually. Nicholson and Pitts (1982) 

 summarized the distribution of nesting in Tennessee, noting that in 

 recent years tree swallows have nested throughout the state. 



North Carolina — In North Carolina tree swallows were first report- 

 ed nesting in 1979 in the extreme northwestern corner of the state 

 (LeGrand and Potter 1980). The nest was in an abandoned wood- 

 pecker cavity along the New River in Ashe County (elevation 9,100 

 m). The second record was nearly 192 km southeast of this site, and 

 2.4 km north of Asheville in Buncombe County near the French 

 Broad River (elevation 600 m) in 1981 (Duyck 1981). In the subse- 

 quent decade the breeding range has expanded considerably. 



Breeding Bird Atlas volunteers in North Carolina found tree 

 swallows nesting in the mountains in the southwestern part of the 

 state in Transylvania County (four locations) and in Henderson County. 



