452 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



[NO. 27. 



from Fort Rae in August I saw the deserted nests of a colony on a 

 rock in the channel north of Lake Hardisty. (See PI. XXIII, fig. 2.) 



In 1904 I first saw cliff swallows on my arrival at Fort Norman 

 on June 10, when I found a breeding colony, with nests nearly fin- 

 ished, established under the eaves and gables of the main dwelling 

 house. Here I collected several specimens and was informed that 

 the birds had arrived about June 1. AVhile traveling down the 

 Mackenzie, I noted the species at Wolverene Rock, June 18, and at 

 the Ramparts, June 20. Both of these localities offer ideal nesting 

 sites and the birds were building b}^ hundreds. At Fort Good Hope, 

 at the lower end of the Ramparts, a few w^ere nesting under the eaves, 

 thus showing their preference for the haunts of man, though natural 

 nesting sites were close at hand. After leaving Fort Good Hope I 

 saw a few a short distance below that post, June 25, and others near 

 the site of old Fort Good Hope, June 28. During my return trip I 

 found the birds common in the vicinity of the Ramparts, July 19. 



This widely-distributed species, at that time undescribed, was first 

 observed in this region during the summer of 1820 on Franklin's 

 first northern journey, and later, under the name Hirundo limifrons^ 

 is referred to b}^ Richardson as follows: 



It was seen in great numbers by Sir John Franklin's party on tlie 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.« 



During his second northern journey Franklin observed the bird at 

 Fort Chipewyan in the summer of 1825, and refers to the occurrence 

 as follows: 



Fort Chipewyan was this summer visited, for the first time, by a large flight 

 of swallows, resembling the house martins of England. They came in a body 

 on the 25th of June, and immediately began to construct their earthy nests 

 under the ledge of the south front of the house.*^ 



He also states that in 1827 the}^ arrived at the same place on May 

 12.*^ Richardson states that clusters of nests of this species were of 

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

 were not uncommon along the wdiole course of the Slave and Macken- 

 zie rivers, and referring to its nesting at Fort Chipewyan, says : 



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 lands 

 north of the Great liakes.*^ 



The nesting of the species on the banks of the Coppermine is also 

 recorded- by Richardson, who mentions that Doctor Rae found the 

 birds at the mouth of Kendall River on May 28, 1849, when the nests 



« Fauna Boreali- Americana, II, p. 331, 1831. 



^ Narrative Second Expedition to Polar Sea, p. 8, 1828. 



c Ibid., p. 307, 1828. 



<^ Fauna Boreali-Americana, II, p. 331, 1831. 



