Hirundo bicolor, Vieill.
WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW.
Hirundo bicolor, Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 61, pl. xxxi.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, pl. xcviii.—Ib. Birds Am. I, pl. xlvi.—Cassin.—Brewer, N. Am. Oöl. I, 1857, 100, pl. iv, fig. 47 (eggs).—Lembeye, Aves de Cuba, 1850, 46, lam. vii, fig. 2.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 310.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. Woolwich, IV, 1864, 15 (Br. Columbia; nesting).—Jones, Bermudas, 34 (Sept. 22, 1849).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 184.—Dall & Bannister, 279 (Alaska).—Samuels, 257.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 106. Petrochelidon bicolor, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1857, 201.—Ib. 1859, 364 (Xalapa).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 13 (Guatemala). Tachycineta bicolor, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850, 48; Jour. Orn. 1856, 4 (Cuba).—Gundlach, JJour. Orn. 1861, 330 (common in Cuba). Hirundo (Tachycineta) bicolor, Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 296. Hirundo viridis, Wils. Hirundo leucogaster, Stephens.
Sp. Char. Glossy metallic bluish-green above; entirely white beneath. Female duller in color. Length, 6.25 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 2.65.
Young bird dull sooty-gray above, much like that of H. thalassina; but may readily be
distinguished by the feathers of the throat being pure white to their roots, instead of having the concealed bases grayish as in that species.
Hab. Whole United States, and north to Slave Lake, south to Guatemala; Bermuda; Cuba, common in winter. Breeds on table-lands of Mexico.
Hirundo bicolor.
Habits. This Swallow has quite an extended distribution. Found throughout North America in the seasons of its migrations, or breeding, it is only a little less restricted in its area of nesting than the preceding species. It breeds from latitude 38° to high Arctic regions, and is also resident throughout the year in the Plateau of Mexico. It is abundant in winter in the West Indies, in Central America, and in Northern South America. It is a common bird about Boston, where it replaces the Purple Martin, and is even more abundant in the British Provinces. Dr. Cooper also found it a very common species in the western portions of Washington Territory, where it was invariably found to breed in hollow trees. In California he states it to be a more or less constant resident, a few wintering in the southern portion of the State. He met with it both at San Diego and at Stockton, in February. He regards them as the hardiest of the Swallows, preferring the coast and the mountain-tops for their residence in that State. At Santa Cruz five or six pairs in 1866 were resident through the winter, where he saw them in January during the coldest of the season. They roosted in the knot-holes in the houses in which they had previously raised their young.