42 



BARN SWALLOW. 



counted several hundreds pass within sight in less than a quarter 

 of an hour, all directing their course towards the south. The reeds 

 are now their regular roosting places ; and about the middle of 

 September there is scarcely an individual of them to be seen. How 

 far south they continue their route is uncertain; none of them re- 

 main in the United States. Mr. Bartram informs me, that during 

 his residence in Florida, he often saw vast flocks of this and our 

 other Swallows, passing from the peninsula towards the south in 

 September and October; and also on their return to the north 

 about the middle of March. It is highly probable, that were the 

 countries to the south of the gulf of Mexico, and as far south as the 

 great river Maranon, visited and explored by a competent natu- 

 ralist, these regions would be found to be the winter rendezvous 

 of the very birds now before us, and most of our other migratory 

 tribes. 



In a small volume which I have lately met with, entitled "An 

 Account of the British settlement of Honduras," by captain George 

 Henderson, of the 5th West India regiment, published in London 

 in 1809, the writer, in treating of that part of its natural history 

 which relates to birds, gives the following particulars. " Myriads 

 of Swallows,'^ says he, "are also the occasional inhabitants of Hon- 

 duras. The time of their residence is generally confined to the 

 period of the rains, [that is from October to February] after which 

 they totally disappear. There is something remarkably curious 

 and deserving of notice in the ascent of these birds. As soon as 

 the dawn appears they quit their place of rest, which is usually 

 chosen amid the rushes of some watery savanna; and invariably 

 rise to a certain height, in a compact spiral form, and which at a 

 distance often occasions them to be taken for an immense column 

 of smoke. This attained, they are then seen separately to disperse 

 in search of food, the occupation of their day. To those who may 

 have had the opportunity of observing the phenomenon of a water 

 spout, the similarity of evolution, in the ascent of these birds, will 



