BULLETIN 
OP THE 
NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
Vol. III. JULY, 1878. No. 3. 
THE EAYE, CLIFF, OR CRESCENT SWALLOW (. PETROCHEL - 
IDON LUNIFRONS).* 
BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U. S. A. 
DiscovERY of this notable Swallow, commonly attributed to Say, 
was made long before Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, 
though the species was first named in the book which treats of that 
interesting journey. The bird may have been discovered by the 
celebrated John Reinhold Forster ; at any rate, the earliest note I 
have in hand respecting the Cliff Swallow is Forster’s, dating 1772, 
when this naturalist published in the Philosophical Transactions 
“ An Account of the Birds sent from Hudson’s Bay ; with Observa- 
tions relative to their Natural History ; and Latin Descriptions of 
some of the most Uncommon,” — a rather noted paper, in which 
seven new species, viz., Falco spadiceus, Strix nebulosa, Emheriza 
[i. e. Zonotrichia\ leucophrys, Fringilla [i. e. Junco\ hudsonias, Mus- 
cicapa [i. e. Dendrceca\ striata, Parus hudsonicus, and Scolopax [i. e. 
Numenias~\ borealis, are described, with references to various other 
new birds by number, such as “ Turdus No. 22,” which is Scoleco- 
phagus ferrugineus, and “ Hirundo No. 35,” which is Petrochelidon 
lunifrons. The next observer — in fact, a rediscoverer — was, 
perhaps, Audubon, who says that he saw Republican or Cliff Swal- 
lows for the first time in 1815 at Henderson, on the Ohio; that he 
drew up a description at the time, naming the species Hirundo re- 
publicana [sic] ; and that he again saw the same bird in 1819 at 
Newport, Ky., where they usually appeared about the 10th of 
* By permission, from advance sheets of the “ Birds of the Colorado Valley,” 
Vol. I. 
VOL. III. 
8 
