General WIlliam Clark assured me that he saw this species on the whole of his route to the Pacific, and there can be no doubt that in those wilds it still breeds in trees or rocky caverns.
Its food consists entirely of insects, the pellets composed of the indigestible parts of which it disgorges. It is, furnished with glands which supply the unctuous matter with which it fastens its nest.
This species does not appear to extend its migrations farther east than the British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is unknown in Newfoundland and Labrador; nor was it until the 29th of May that I saw some at Eastport in Maine, where a few breed.
Hirundo pelasgia, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 345.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 581.
Cypselus pelasgius, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 63.
Chimney Swallow, Hirundo pelasgia, Wils. Amer. Ornith, vol. v. p. 48. pl. 39. fig. 1.—Nuttall, Manual, p. 609.
Adult Male. Plate CLVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill extremely short, very broad at the base, with a very wide rictus, compressed towards the tip; upper mandible bent towards the end, the sides convex, the sharp edges inflected and having an indistinct sinus near the tip; lower mandible nearly straight; gap line slightly arched. Nostrils basal, approximate, oblong. Head large and depressed, neck short, body slender. Feet extremely short and weak; tarsus rounded, destitute of scutella; toes extremely short, the three anterior nearly equal, each with only two joints, hind toe puny, with a much smaller claw; claws strong, shortish, compressed, arched, very acute.
Plumage short, compact, rather blended, slightly glossed; wings extremely elongated, falciform, quills narrow with excessively strong shafts, the first longest. Tail of ten feathers, very short, slightly rounded, the shaft of extraordinary strength, and projecting beyond the webs in the form of a stiff prickle.
Bill black. Iris black. Feet dusky, with black claws. The general colour is brownish-black, lighter on the rump, and with slight greenish reflections on the head and back; the throat greyish-white, gradually shaded into the greyish-brown colour of the under parts, which have a peculiar grey and greenish lustre; the space from the eye to the bill black; a greyish-white line over the eye.