WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. 
423 
situations in quest of similar food. They inhabit the northern 
Atlantic states as far as the District of Maine^ where I have my- 
self seen them; and my friend Mr. Gardiner informs me, that 
they are found on the coast of Long Island and its neighbourhood. 
About the middle of July I observed many hundreds of these 
birds sitting on the flat sandy beach near the entrance of Great 
Egg Harbour. They were also very numerous among the myr- 
tles of these low islands, completely covering some of the bushes. 
One man told me, that he saw one hundred and two shot at a 
single discharge. For some time before their departure they 
subsist principally on the myrtle berries [myrica cerifera) and 
become extremely fat. They leave us early in September. 
This species appears to have remained hitherto undescribed, 
owing to the misapprehension before mentioned. It is not per- 
haps quite so numerous as the preceding, and rarely associates 
with it to breed, never using mud of any kind in the construc- 
tion of its nest. 
The White-bellied Swallow is five inches and three quarters 
long, and twelve inches in extent; bill and eye black; upper 
parts a light glossy greenish blue; wings brown black, with 
slight reflexions of green; tail forked, the two exterior feathers 
being about a quarter of an inch longer than the middle ones, 
and all of a uniform brown black; lores black; whole lower 
parts pure white; wings when shut extend about a quarter of an 
inch beyond the tail; legs naked, short and strong, and, as well 
as the feet, of a dark purplish flesh colour; claws stout. 
The female has much less of the greenish gloss than the male, 
the colours being less brilliant; otherwise alike, 
