396 
ihrundinidjE. 
black. In the male bird, gray predominates, the 
head being of that colour, minutely mottled with 
black, and having two lines of the same colour 
running down the crown ; the wings and tail are 
marked with indistinct mottled bars of gray, 
brownish black, or orange yellow ; the more con- 
spicuous marks, however, are a line of white 
running from the corners of the mouth below the 
auriculars ; two oval spots on the throat, which 
nearly converge together in the middle ; a large 
oval spot of pure white on the inner web of each 
of the three first quills, and the tips of the two 
outer feathers being of the same colour. In the 
female, all the plumage is more subdued and 
blended, and the white markings are of an 
ochraceous yellow. 
The family of the Hirundinidte, or Swallows, 
possesses great interest, both on account of their 
typical station in their tribe, and from the vast 
destruction which they make among a train of 
beings, in many instances extremely destructive 
to various kinds of our productions, and they 
have also created much speculation from the fact 
of their entering into a state of torpidity, either 
in holes or under water, being advanced with 
much confidence and maintained by men who 
were considered to be possessed of great learning 
and information. In the last family, nocturnal 
in its habits, we noticed that a foreign species 
was known which fed and hunted during the day ; 
in like manner, do we find in our present group 
