_Hirundo lunifrons_, SAY, Long’s Exp. II, 1823, 47 (Rocky Mts.).—
CASSIN; BREWER, N. A. Ool. I, 1857, 94, pl. v, no. 68-73
(eggs).—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 309.—LAWRENCE, Ann. N. Y. Lyc.
1861, 317 (Panama R. R.; winter).—VERRILL, Pr. Bost. N. H. Soc.
1864, 276 (migration and history).—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. Woolwich,
IV, 1864, 16 (Br. Col.; nesting).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, P. R. R. XII,
II, 184 (Wash. Terr.).—DALL & BANNISTER, 279 (Alaska).—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 104.—SAMUELS, 256. _Petrochelidon l._ BAIRD,
Review, 1864, 288. _H. opifex_, CLINTON, 1824. _H. respublicana_,
AUD. 1824. _H. fulva_, BON. (not of VIEILLOT).—AUD. Orn. Biog. I,
pl. lviii.—IB. Birds Am. I, pl. xlvii.—MAXIM. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858,
100.
SP. CHAR. (No. 18,322 ♂.) Top of head glossy black, with greenish
lustre; back and scapulars similar, but rather duller, and somewhat
streaked by the appearance of the white sides of the feathers,—the
bases of the feathers, however, being plumbeous. Chin, throat, and
sides of head, chestnut-brown, this extending round on the nape as a
distinct continuous collar, which is bounded posteriorly by dull
grayish. The chestnut darkest on the chin, with a rich purplish tinge.
Rump above and on sides paler chestnut (sometimes fading into
whitish). Upper tail-coverts grayish-brown, edged with paler, lighter
than the plain brown of the wings and tail. Forehead, for the length
of the bill, creamy-white, somewhat lunate, or extending in an acute
angle, a little over the eye; a very narrow blackish frontlet; loral
region dusky to the bill. A patch of glossy black in the lower part of
the breast, and a few black feathers in the extreme chin, the latter
sometimes scarcely appreciable. Under parts dull white, tinged with
reddish-gray on the sides and inside of the wings. Feathers of crissum
brownish-gray, edged with whitish, with a tinge of rufous anteriorly
(sometimes almost inappreciable). Nest of mud, lined; built against
rocks or beams; opening sometimes circular, on the side; sometimes
open above; eggs spotted.
Total length, 5.10; wing, 4.50; tail, 2.40, nearly even; difference of
primary quills, 2.10; length of bill from forehead, .38, from nostril,
.25, along gape, .60, width, .50; tarsus, .48; middle toe and claw,
.72; claw alone, .22; hind toe and claw, .44; claw alone, .20.
HAB. Entire United States from Atlantic to Pacific, and along central
region to Arctic Ocean and Fort Yukon; Panama in winter. Not noted at
Cape St. Lucas, in Mexico, or in West Indies.
There is no difference between the sexes, but the young bird is very
different from the adult in the following particulars: the steel-blue
above is replaced by a lustreless dusky-brown, the feathers (except on
head) being margined with a creamy tint; the neck merely tinged with
rufous; the throat has only a dusky suffusion, and the chin is much
mixed with white; the frontal patch is obsolete.
A closely allied species from Mexico, _P. swainsoni_ (see Baird, Rev.
Am. Birds, 1865, 290), possibly yet to be found near our southern
border, differs as follows:—
Frontlet reddish-white, with narrow band of black along upper
mandible … _lunifrons_.
Frontlet chestnut-brown, without black at base of upper mandible.
Size smaller … _swainsoni_.
Sometimes (as in 11,027 ♀ and 11,025 ♂, Fort Bridger) the black patch
extends upward, somewhat broken, however, to the bill.
HABITS. The early history of the Cliff Swallow must always remain
involved in some obscurity, so far as concerns its numbers and
distribution before the first settlement of the country, and even down
to the early portion of the present century. Its existence was unknown
to Mr. Wilson, and it was unknown to other naturalists until obtained
by Say, in Long’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1820. It is now
known to occur nearly throughout North America, and to breed from
Pennsylvania to the Arctic regions, and from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. Yet to many parts of the country it is a new-comer, where, a
few years since, it was entirely unknown. It seems to be probable that
at first this species was to be found only in certain localities that
offered favorable places whereon to construct their nests. Where high
limestone cliffs abound, these birds may have always occurred,
although escaping observation.
In the same year that Long discovered this species among the Rocky
Mountains (1820), Sir John Franklin’s party also met with it between
the Cumberland House and Fort Enterprise, and on the banks of Point
Lake, in latitude 65°. In June, 1825, a number of these birds made
their first appearance at Fort Chippewyan, and built their nests under
the eaves of the house. This fort had then existed many years, and
trading-posts had been in existence a century and a half, and yet this
was the first instance of its placing itself under the protection of
man throughout that wide extent of territory. Mr. Audubon met with
this species at Henderson, on the Ohio, in 1815. Two years later he
found a colony breeding in Newport, Ky., which dated back to the same
year. Several other colonies in that neighborhood also first appeared
in the same year. In 1837 I received their eggs from Coventry, Vt., at
which time they were a new species to me. They were there known as the
“Eave Swallow,” and the time of their first appearance could not be
determined. I first met with them in 1839, at Jaffrey, N. H., where
they had made their first appearance the year before, and were not
then known to be anywhere else in that vicinity. The same year I
afterwards found them in Burlington, Vt., where they had been known
only for three years. When or where they first appeared in
Massachusetts is not known. I first observed a large colony of them in
Attleborough in 1842. Its size indicated the existence of these birds
in that place for several years. The same year they also appeared,
apparently for the first time, in Boston, Hingham, and in other places
in the neighborhood.
In 1824, De Witt Clinton read a paper to the New York Lyceum, stating
that he had met with these birds at Whitehall, N. Y., at the southern
end of Lake Champlain, in 1817, about the time of their first
appearance on the Ohio; and Rev. Zadock Thompson met with them in
Randolph, Vt., at about the same period. General Dearborn noticed them
for the first time in Winthrop, Me., in 1830. They first appeared at
Carlisle, Penn., in 1841.
Professor Verrill discovered, in 1861, a large colony of these birds
breeding on the high limestone cliffs of Anticosti, apparently in
their original condition, and entirely removed from the influences of
man. This suggested an inquiry as to their early presence in
Northeastern America. From the information he received, he was led to
conclude that this Swallow was known to certain parts of Maine earlier
than its first discovery anywhere in the West. Whether these birds
were indigenous to the West or not cannot now be determined. That they
were discovered there only so recently as 1820 proves nothing. We only
know that in certain localities—such as Rock River on the Mississippi,
and at Anticosti on the St. Lawrence—their occurrence in large numbers
in their former normal condition of independence suggests in either
locality an equally remote beginning. It is possible, and even
probable, that in favorable localities in various parts of the country
they existed in isolated colonies. The settlement of the country, and
the multiplication of convenient, sheltered, and safe places for their
nests, gradually wrought a change in their habits, and greatly
multiplied their numbers. At St. Stephen, N. B., and in that
neighborhood, Mr. Boardman found this species as abundant in 1828 as
they have been at any time since. They were then very plentiful under
the eaves of several old barns in that part of the country. Yet twelve
years afterward they were entirely unknown on the lower Kennebeck.
Dr. Cooper found this to be an abundant species in California, on the
coast, where they breed on the cliffs, and have all the appearance of
being indigenous. They appear at San Diego as early as March 15, a
week before the Barn Swallow, and do not leave until October. They
build even in the noisy streets of San Francisco. Dr. Cooper observed
them catching young grasshoppers, which is certainly unusual food for
Swallows, and one that has proved fatal to young Barn Swallows when
fed to the latter in confinement. At Santa Cruz they bred as early as
April 12, and had second broods July 5.
The nests of this Swallow, when built on the side of a cliff or in any
exposed position, are constructed in the shape of a retort, the larger
portion adhering to the wall, arched over at the top and projecting in
front, with a covered passage-way opening at the bottom. The normal
original nest, in a state of nature, is an elaborate and remarkably
ingenious structure, sheltering its inmates from the weather and from
their many enemies. Since they have sought the shelter of man and
built under the eaves of barns and houses, the old style of their
nests has been greatly changed, and the retort-like shape has nearly
disappeared.
In building and in repairing their nests they work with great
industry, and often complete their task with wonderful celerity. Where
they exist in a large colony, it is not an uncommon thing to see
several birds at work upon the same nest,—one bird, apparently the
female owner, always assisting and directing the whole. After the work
of construction has gone so far as to permit the occupation of the
nest, it is often to be observed that the task of completing and
improving the structure is kept up by the male. In a large colony of
these Swallows, whose nests were built under the projecting roof of a
barn in a small island in the Bay of Fundy, every nest was as open as
are those of the Barn Swallow. These birds had been encouraged to
build by the owner, and boards had been placed above and below their
nests, of which they at once took advantage to build an unusual nest.
These nests are made of various kinds of adhesive earth and mud. They
are neatly and warmly lined with fine dry grasses and leaves,
intermingled with feathers, wool, and other soft, warm substances. It
has been thought that the mud of which these nests are composed is
agglutinated by the saliva of the birds; but of this I have never been
able to detect any evidence in the nests themselves, the crumbling
nature of which when dry is against this supposition; and the birds
themselves are often to be seen about puddles of water, apparently
gathering materials.
When the nests of a large colony are invaded, the birds manifest great
uneasiness, collecting in a swarm over the head of the intruder,
wheeling around in circles, uttering loud outcries, and even flying
close to his head, as if to attack him, with loud snapping of the
bills.
The song of this Swallow is an unmusical creak, rather than a twitter,
frequent rather than loud, and occasionally harsh, yet so earnest and
genial in its expression that its effect is far from being unpleasant.
The ground-color of their eggs is white, and they are marked with
dots, blotches, and points of reddish-brown. These markings vary
greatly in size, number, and distribution. They are usually chiefly
about the larger end. In shape they are usually less elongated than
those of the Barn Swallow, and their markings are larger. This is not,
however, invariable, and the two kinds are not always distinguishable.
In length they vary from .875 of an inch to .75, and their average
breadth is .60.