CLIFF SWALLOW. 
397 
Richardson they are extremely abundant in the fur countries. 
In 1815 they were observed for the first time at Henderson, 
on the banks of the Ohio, and at Newport in Kentucky. In 
1817 they made their appearance at Whitehall, near Lake 
Champlain, in the western part of the State of New York. In 
these places their increase seems to have kept pace with the 
time since their arrival, augmenting their nests from a single 
cluster to several hundreds in the course of four or five years. 
Vieillot observed one at sea off Nova Scotia, and they have, in 
fact, long been commonly known in that Province. In 1818, 
as I learn from J. W. Boott, Esq., they began to build at Craw- 
ford’s, near the base of the White Mountains of New Hamp- 
shire. In the summer of 1830 a few nests were seen by 
General Dearborn at Winthrop in Maine ; he had also heard 
of one at Gardiner in the same State. The hibernal retreat of 
these birds would appear to be in the West Indies, as they 
were seen in Porto Rico by Vieillot, and one was also observed 
in St. Domingo by the same author. 
In the Western States they arrive from the South early in 
April, and almost immediately begin to construct their nests. 
They commence their labor at the dawn, and continue their 
operations until near mid-day. The nests are made of pellets 
of sandy mud, disposed in layers until the fabric, with its 
entrance, assumes the form of a projecting retort, agglutinated 
to cliffs or the walls of buildings as convenience may offer. 
From the nature of the friable materials employed, the whole 
is frail, and would crumble in the possession of any but the 
airy owners. The internal lining is of straw and dried grass 
negligently disposed for the reception of the eggs. They raise 
but a single brood, who, with their parents, after several 
attempts at mustering, finally disappear in August as suddenly 
as they came. Mr. Torvnsend says : « In the neighborhood of 
the Columbia River the Cliff Swallow attaches its nest to the 
trunks of trees, making it of the same form and materials as 
elsewhere.” The face of Pillar Rock, an isolated columnar 
mass of basalt near Chinhook, at the estuary of the Columbia, 
was rendered still more fantastic and picturesque by the nests 
