44 
niHUNDO AMERICANA. 
same bird ; I shall therefore take the lil)erty of co^ 
sidering the present as a separate and distinct specieS; 
The barn swallow arrives in this part of Pennsylvaiii* 
from the south on the last week in March, or the iif*' 
week in April, and passes on to the north as far,*! 
least, as the river St Lawrence. On the east side <’! 
the great range of the Alleghany, they are disperse^ 
very generally over the country, wherever there at* 
habitations, even to the summit of high mountain*' 
but, on account of the greater coldness of such situation-' 
are usually a week or two later in making their appein* 
ance there. On the 16th of May, being on a shootiid 
expedition on the top of Pocano mountain, Nortln 
ampton, when the ice on that and on several successi^! 
mornings was more than a quarter of an inch thick. 
observed, with surprise, a pair of these swallows whin^ 
had taken up their abode on a miserable cabin thef' 
It was then about sunrise, the ground white with ho'^ 
frost, and the male was twittering on the roof by tl>? 
side of his mate with great sprightlinc.ss. The man ‘ 
the house told me that a single pair came reo-ularl/ 
there every season, and built their nest on a projecting 
beam under the eaves, about six or seven feet from tli' 
ground. At the bottom of the mountain, in a lai?* 
barn belonging to the tavern there, I counted upwar<)* 
of twenty nests, all seemingly occupied. In the woo^* 
they are never met with ; but, as you approach a farift 
they soon catch the eye, cutting their gambols in ill* 
air. Scarcely a barn, to which these birds can fin* 
access, is without them ; and, as public feeling is unn 
versally in their favour, they arc seldom or nef^ 
disturbed. The proprietor of the barn last mentiouc" 
a German, assurinl me, that if a man permitted tM 
swallows to be shot, his cows would give bloody mill'j 
and also that no barn where swallows frequented woul* 
ever be struck with lightning; and I nodded assen'j 
When the tenets of superstition “ lean to the side ^ 
humanity,” one can readily respect them. On the wn** 
side of the Alleghany these birds become more 
