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PILLAGING THE EMPIRE

Between 1500 and 1750, European expansion and global interaction produced
vast wealth. As goods traveled by ship along new global trade routes, piracy also
flourished on the world’s seas. Pillaging the Empire tells the fascinating story of
maritime predation in this period, including the perspectives of both pirates and
their victims. Brushing aside the romantic legends of piracy, Kris Lane pays care-
ful attention to the varied circumstances and motives that led to the rise of this
bloodthirsty pursuit of riches, and places the history of piracy in the context of
early modern empire building.
This second edition of Pillaging the Empire has been revised and expanded to
incorporate the latest scholarship on piracy, maritime law, and early modern state
formation. With a new chapter on piracy in East and Southeast Asia, Lane con-
siders piracy as a global phenomenon. Filled with colorful details and stories of
individual pirates from Francis Drake to the women pirates Ann Bonny and Mary
Read, this engaging narrative will be of interest to all those studying the history of
Latin America, the Atlantic world, and the global empires of the early modern era.

Kris Lane holds the France V. Scholes Chair in Colonial Latin American History
at Tulane University. He is the author of Colour of Paradise: The Emerald in the Age
of Gunpowder Empires and Quito 1599: City and Colony in Transition. He is currently
writing a book on the colonial history of Potosí, Bolivia.
This page intentionally left blank
PILLAGING THE EMPIRE
Global Piracy on the High Seas,
1500–1750
Second Edition

Kris Lane
Second edition published 2016
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
And by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
The right of Kris Lane to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without
intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge, 1998
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lane, Kris E., 1967–
Pillaging the empire : global piracy on the high seas, 1500–1750 / Kris
Lane. — Second edition.
  pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Pirates—America—History. 2. Privateering—America—History. 3. America—
History, Naval. 4. Pirates—History. 5. Privateering—History. 6. Naval history,
Modern. I. Title.
E18.75.L36 2015
364.16'4—dc23
2015006441
ISBN: 978-0-7656-3841-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-7656-3842-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72226-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Pamela and Ximena, por supuesto!
For what is history, in fact, but a kind of Newgate calendar, a register of the crimes
and miseries that man has inflicted on his fellow man? It is a huge libel on human
nature, to which we industriously add page after page, volume after volume, as if we
were building up a monument to the honor, rather than the infamy of the species.

—Washington Irving, The Knickerbocker’s History of New York

CONTENTS

List of Tables, Maps, and Figures ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi
A Chronology of Early Modern Piracy xvii

Introduction1

1 Spain and the Sixteenth-Century Corsairs 7

The Brothers Barbarossa and the Barbary Coast Corsairs 8
Jambe de Bois and the First Caribbean Corsairs 13
The French Corsair Threat in Brazil 22
Contraband Trade and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis 24
Notes27

2 Smugglers, Pirates, and Privateers: The Elizabethans 29

West Country Slave Traders 29
San Juan de Ulúa and Aftermath 32
Drake and Elizabethan Piracy 35
Elizabethan Privateers 43
Notes55

3 From the Low Countries to the High Seas:

The Dutch Sea-Rovers 57
Calvinism and Competition at Sea 58
Salt and Sovereignty in the Caribbean 59
Piet Heyn and the Dutch West India Company 61
viii Contents

Dutch Intruders in the Pacific 66

Notes87

4 The Seventeenth-Century Caribbean Buccaneers 89

Renegades and Runaways on Hispaniola and Tortuga 90
Port Royal, Jamaica: Pirate Haven 94
Henry Morgan and the Treaty of Madrid 101
Buccaneers as Loggers and Privateers 115
Notes120

5 Buccaneers in the South Sea 122

John Narborough and the Charlatan 122
Bartholomew Sharp: Pirate Captain of Last Resort 124
A Second Pirate Cycle in the South Sea 132
Grogniet and Guayaquil, 1687 139
Captain Franco, Shipwrecks, and Contraband 142
Notes150

6 Pirates, Merchants, and Conquistadors in the Indian

Ocean and China Seas 152
Pirates of the Indian Ocean 154
The Corsair Sefer Reis 156
The Malabar Pirates 159
Sea Raiders of East and Southeast Asia 161
Koxinga and the Struggle for Taiwan 168
Notes174

7 The Last Buccaneers and Pirate Suppression 176

The Buccaneer Denouement 177
Henry Avery and Captain Kidd 183
The Sack of Rio de Janeiro 190
Treasure Wrecks and the Anglo-American Freebooters 192
Notes206

Conclusion209

Afterword to the Second Edition 215

Appendix: Early Modern Pirates and Contemporary European Monarchs 227
Glossary of Terms 229
Select Bibliography 231
Index239
TABLES, MAPS, AND FIGURES

Tables
4.1 Seventeenth-Century Taverns of Port Royal, Jamaica 97
4.2 English Buccaneer Captains of Jamaica and Tortuga, c. 1663 101

Maps
1 Atlantic Winds and Ports 6
2 The Caribbean Basin in the Age of Piracy 14
3 The Pacific Basin in the Age of Piracy 44
4 Eastern Seas in the Age of Piracy 63
5 The Pacific Coast of South America in the Age of Piracy 67
6 Greater Southeast Asia in the Age of Piracy 162

Figures
1.1 An Early Modern Mediterranean Galley 10
1.2 French Corsairs Raiding a Spanish Settlement 18
1.3 French Raiders Attacked by Native Americans off Margarita Island 19
1.4 A Sailor’s Revenge in Cartagena, 1544 21
2.1 The Jesus of Lübeck34
2.2 Engagement between Golden Hind (Cacaplata) and Cacafuego41
2.3 Measuring the Sun’s Meridian Altitude with an Astrolabe 54
3.1 Antonio de Morga’s San Diego Meets Olivier van Noort’s Maurice
off the Philippines, 14 December 1600 72
3.2 View of Paita, Peru 76
3.3 A Seventeenth-Century Spanish Galleon 85
x Tables, Maps, and Figures

4.1 Le Vasseur’s “Dove-Cote” on Tortuga and the French Fort on

Guadeloupe91
4.2 A Hispaniola Buccaneer 93
4.3 A Spanish Spy’s Map of Port Royal, Jamaica 100
4.4 Buccaneers Capturing Puerto Príncipe, Cuba, 1668 106
4.5 Henry Morgan’s Attack on Spanish Ships near Maracaibo 107
5.1 Map of the Isthmus of Darien and Panama 127
5.2 Basil Ringrose’s Map of Gorgona Island 130
5.3 Basil Ringrose’s Map of Juan Fernández Island 130
5.4 Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Spanish Diving Equipment 149
6.1 Murad Reis vs. Diogo de Noronha at Hormuz, 1554 157
6.2 A Chinese Sand-boat, Early Seventeenth Century 169
7.1 Early Eighteenth-Century Pirate Flags 184
7.2 Ann Bonny and Mary Read 198
7.3 Blackbeard the Pirate 200
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In 1502, on his fourth and final voyage, Christopher Columbus happened upon a
great trading canoe just off the coast of Honduras. It was “long as a galley,” as Fer-
dinand, the Admiral’s thirteen-year-old son recalled, and carved from one great tree
trunk. Neither its twenty-five naked paddlers nor the richly clad men who appeared
to be their masters offered any resistance as the Spaniards seized the craft, and they
remained paralyzed with fright as the bearded strangers rifled through the cargo. It
was only when some cacao beans were allowed to spill from their containers in the
course of the looting that they momentarily forgot their fear, scrambling to retrieve
them “as if they were their eyes.”1

In this passage from Ambivalent Conquests, Inga Clendinnen’s remarkable reinter-

pretation of the history of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, we catch not only a
glimpse of the beginnings of European piracy in the Americas but also an early
clashing of two vastly different value systems. The Columbus incident cited here
constituted a simple act of “piracy on the high seas”—certainly Spain’s enemies
would have described it as such—and the Maya traders would have most likely
agreed (though they were probably stunned to be left with their cacao beans in
favor of the odd greenstones and gold work). Indeed, a literal interpretation of
our current legal and dictionary definitions of piracy could cast much of the
European conquest of the Americas as piracy, a grand larceny “on or by descent
from the sea.” Plunder is plunder, might is wrong. In typical late-comer fashion,
Spain’s northern European enemies created the so-called Black Legend with
just such literal definitions of “unjust war” in mind, then treated indigenous
Americans with stunningly hypocritical cruelty themselves. Meanwhile, they
xii Preface and Acknowledgments

excused acts of piracy against Spanish subjects as “robbing the robbers.” Were
they not pirates all?
Defining piracy, as these examples suggest, has always been problematical,
always subject to multiple perspectives, always plastic in the hands of nationalist
historians. As with all “concise narratives,” this one attempts to avoid partisanship,
accommodate multiple points of view, celebrate nothing, condemn no one, and,
in short, simply try to make some “objective” sense out of apparent chaos.Though
revisionist in some ways, the present text follows the more traditional history
of piracy in that it focuses primarily on the activities of Spain’s, and to a lesser
extent Portugal’s, post-conquest enemies in the Americas. It is less traditional in
its attempt to place the seaborne attackers of these Iberian powers in a broader,
world-historical context and to view most of their acts as pecuniary rather than
nationalistic in nature. In this regard, I hope the book attains a kind of structural
and perspectival coherence.
Given the enduring popularity of the topic, old and new books on piracy
abound. Some of these works are wonderfully detailed and well researched, and
the true enthusiast should consult them rather than this volume for the nitty-gritty
of pirate life (several of the better ones are listed in the bibliography). Even better,
and of easier access than ever with electronic advances, are the several pirate jour-
nals published in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and reissued
in various forms to the present day. For the interested lay reader and perhaps the
undergraduate student, however, few scholarly treatments of piracy in history have
offered a general, concise overview of the phenomenon as it developed in Ameri-
can waters, including the Pacific, during the early modern era (c. 1450–1750).
There are a few exceptions, but in general these works tend to lack in depth what
they possess in breadth; either the pirates themselves are romanticized and reduced
to caricatures, or Spain’s seaborne empire, the usual victim of pirate attacks, is
misrepresented or its pivotal role is simply downplayed. The present study has
benefited greatly from the work of many conscientious scholars who over the
years have recognized these deficiencies in the literature and have worked to flesh
out both the Spanish side of the story and the social complexities of pirate and
privateering crews of varying nationalities. These more narrowly focused works,
usually restricted to one region and time period, have been invaluable informants
to the present project, and in order to avoid any hint of literary piracy on my own
part, I have attempted to give them full and accurate credit wherever it is due.
The central narrative of this book owes much to the careful scholarship of
numerous historians, most notably Kenneth Andrews, Paul Hoffman, Cornelis
Goslinga, David Cordingly, Peter Earle, David Marley, and Clarence Haring for
the Caribbean region and Peter Bradley and Peter Gerhard for the Pacific; without
their work this study would have taken a lifetime of archival research and at least
nine lifetimes of accumulated wisdom. Other first-rate sources exploited include
the works of Tonio Andrade, Charles Boxer, Giancarlo Casale, Cheng Wei-Chung,
J.H. Parry, John B. Wolf, Carla Rahn Phillips, Marcus Rediker, Robert Ritchie,
 Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

Mendel Peterson, and the pirate historian’s pirate historian, Philip Gosse. Outside
of a few primary pirate bits encountered by me in South American and Spanish
archives, the present volume makes no attempt at originality beyond the general
aim of producing a companion text on piracy suitable for World History or simi-
lar courses. For the reader interested in reconstructing pirate life (without, it is
hoped, reviving pirate atrocities), I have included such sidelights as instruction in
dice throwing, seventeenth-century style, and select (modern) recipes for pirate
dishes and drinks.
The pirates were often superb storytellers, and while the following narrative
drifts into analysis from time to time, it is the pirates’ stories, along with those
of their victims, that make up the core of this book. I have tried to leave moral,
legal, and psychological reflections to the reader whenever possible, but a confes-
sion of bias should help to clear up potential ambiguities. Like the great historian
Carlo Cipolla, who in the course of his studies accumulated more knowledge of
cannons and warships than any other specialist of early modern Europe, I am a
self-proclaimed pacifist and landlubber—beyond this my specialty is early modern
Spanish American history. Thus, in the course of the following narrative I may
appear to side with the people being beaten up and robbed or those getting sea-
sick and drowning. With these confessions in mind, the reader will discover that
I view the pirates of this period much as the vegetarian views the butcher shop,
with an uneasy combination of fascination and horror.
The more mundane horror of long nights at the word processor was mitigated
by the constant support of my wife, who carried our first child just as this book
was gestating. In her long-suffering way she unintentionally reminded me that her
task was infinitely more challenging than my own—certainly the product of her
labors, a beautiful little girl named Ximena, has proved to be more entertaining.
She will be going to college as this second edition goes to press, and I may not be
the first parent driven to piracy by the high cost of post-secondary tuition. Other
sources of encouragement included the late Robert Levine of the University of
Miami History Department and Stephen Dalphin, former executive editor at M.E.
Sharpe. For this second edition, I offer special thanks to M.E. Sharpe editors Steve
Drummond and Irene Bunnell and to the kind and helpful staff at Routledge. As
for outside readers and other partners in crime, I wish to thank the indefatigable
John Crocitti at the University of Miami and Joan Campbell and Creston Long at
the College of William & Mary; their insights and criticisms were much appreci-
ated. Arne Bialuschewski offered many helpful comments and suggestions for the
second edition. In the spirit of American individualism, on the other hand, I am
proud to announce that this book was produced with absolutely no financial assis-
tance from state, federal, municipal, or private foundations—a fact that gave rise
to the unfortunate rumor that I had discovered a cache of pirate loot among the
Florida Keys. If only it had been so. I would like to credit the History Department
of the University of Miami, however, for allowing me to develop my thoughts on
early modern piracy during my year-long visitorship in an experimental course
xiv Preface and Acknowledgments

entitled “Piracy in the West Indies.” Finally, many thanks to the students of that
course for their enthusiasm and curiosity; they and the many others I have taught
since, at William & Mary and now at Tulane University (both founded with pirate
loot), reminded me that in spite of such painfully overwrought films as Cutthroat
Island, the spirit of piracy in the Americas is alive and well.
Crimes such as piracy may not pay in the long run, but they certainly offer
scholars and other writers plenty to chew on and, it must be said, to regurgitate.
One could even say that piracy provides another kind of parasitical livelihood,
that of pirate scholar. Speaking of parasites, this new edition of Pillaging the Empire,
much like the first, clings like a leach upon the scholarship of others. Even so, in
the intervening years since the book first appeared in 1998, I have had the good
fortune to come across many more original documents in European and Latin
American archives relating to pirate attacks and reprisals. I have not attempted
to rewrite this book, but rather to expand its geographical scope, to update its
bibliography, to insert a few choice findings, and to correct some lamentable
errors. My gut feeling about the subject has not changed: I remain fascinated and
repulsed in equal measure.

A General Note on Racial-Ethnic Terms and Place Names

In the text I have chosen to use the term “Native American” rather than “Indian”
whenever possible—and more precise terms, such as “Taíno” or “Mapuche,” when
appropriate. Though one reader has suggested that the term “Native American”
is anachronistic, my feeling is that “Indian” remains erroneous and misleading
(especially in a text that also deals with native peoples of the Indian subcontinent)
no matter how common it was in early modern usage. Clearly no native peoples
of the Western Hemisphere recognized a pan-American ethnic identity prior to
the twentieth century, no matter how they may be grouped in general today.
Peoples of sub-Saharan African origin, enslaved or free, are referred to as either
“Africans” or “blacks.” As with “Native American,” the former term is hopelessly
vague and the latter suggests a uniformity of color that did not exist. Given the
European tendency to omit precise African ethnic or language group origins in
common usage, however, I have had to resort to these terms for the most part. I do
not subscribe to any distinctions of “race” beyond the human, but early modern
Europeans were not so inclined (though their views differed somewhat from
the modern). Hence peoples of “mixed” heritage are referred to by their often
unfortunate contemporary monikers, e.g. “mulatto,” “mestizo,” and so forth. That
these terms still circulate without reflection is a chilling reminder of the enduring
nature of colonial racist dogma, Spanish, Portuguese, and otherwise.
Spanish-American place names were not perfectly standardized in the colonial
period, and I have chosen to use modern terms in most cases; the most likely can-
didates for reader confusion are: “Riohacha” for “Río de la Hacha,” “Portobelo”
for “Porto Bello” (or “Puerto Bello”), and “Lima” for “Ciudad de los Reyes.”
 Preface and Acknowledgments xv

In current English usage, “West Indies” refers to islands in the Caribbean Basin;
I have attempted to keep to this distinction although in Spanish colonial terms
“The Indies” referred to all of the American colonies (and to overseas colonies in
general, including “East Indian” places such as the Philippines).

Note
1 Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517–1570 (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 3.
This page intentionally left blank
A CHRONOLOGY OF EARLY
MODERN PIRACY

1494 Treaty of Tordesillas (established overseas limits of Spanish and Portu-

guese domains)
1504 Oruç Barbarossa takes papal galleys off Civita Vecchia (near Rome)
1517 Oruç Barbarossa defeats Spanish fleet off Algiers, dies in 1518 battle
1522 Suleiman the Magnificent’s forces capture Rhodes from Knights of
St. John
1523 Jean Florin captures portion of Moctezuma’s treasure off Cape St.Vincent
1527 Ottoman corsairs defeat Portuguese to control Yemeni entrance to
Red Sea
1528 Anonymous pirate attack on Puerto Rico; San Germán sacked and
burned
1529 Hayreddin Barbarossa drives Spanish from fort of El Peñón (off Algiers)
1536 Anonymous French corsair attacks Spanish ships off Chagres River
(Panama)
1538 First pirate attack on the city of Havana
1543 Seignieur de Roberval sacks Rancherías, Santa Marta, Cartagena (1544)
1545 “Pirate king” Wang Zhi moves to southwest Japan
1546 Hayreddin Barbarossa dies; Portuguese fail to take Basra: Ottomans fail
to take Diu
1551 Turgut Reis (Dragut) takes Tripoli from Knights of Malta
1552 Portuguese defeat Ottomans at Hormuz
1553 Henri II issues letter of marque to François Le Clerc, authorizing
aggression against Spanish shipping in the West Indies; Portuguese
defeat Ottomans at Muscat
1554 Jacques Sores gains control of Santiago de Cuba
1555 Sores burns Santa Marta, takes Havana
xviii A Chronology of Early Modern Piracy

1556 Ottoman corsair Sefer Reis raids coast of India

1559 Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis; Martin Cote takes Santa Marta, Carta-
gena (1560); anonymous pirate attack on Campeche; Wang Zhi cap-
tured and executed by Ming authorities
1561 Spanish fleet system regularized
1562 First slaving and contraband expedition of John Hawkins to Santo
Domingo; first French Huguenot expedition to Florida under Ribault
1564 Second Hawkins expedition to Caribbean (Burburata, Santa Marta);
second and third French expeditions to Florida (Laudonnière and
Ribault); Sefer Reis launches raid on Swahili Coast
1565 Menéndez Avilés destroys French outposts in Florida
1566 Lovell and Drake engage in contraband trade at Burburata and
Riohacha
1567 Drake and Hawkins’s third slaving and contraband mission to Tierra
Firme, punished by returning fleet at San Juan de Ulúa (1568)
1571 Don Juan of Austria and Christian allies defeat Ottomans at Lepanto
(Greece)
1572 Drake returns to Caribbean, attacks Panama
1574 Uluç Ali Pasa captures Spanish presidio of La Goletta; Limahon (Lin
Feng) attacks Manila
1575 Cervantes captured by Berber corsairs
1577–80 Drake’s circumnavigation, includes taking of prize Cacafuego off coast
of Peru (1579)
1584 First Raleigh expedition to Virginia
1586 Drake returns to Caribbean to take Santo Domingo, Cartagena;
Cavendish sets out on circumnavigation voyage; Mir Ali Beg raids
Swahili Coast
1587 Raleigh returns to Virginia; Cavendish takes Manila galleon
1588 Anglo-Dutch defeat of the Invincible Armada
1594–95 Richard Hawkins’s South Sea voyage (captured off modern Ecuador)
1595 Last expedition of Drake and Hawkins, attacks on San Juan (P.R.), Rio-
hacha, both succumb to disease and die off Panama coast (1596)
1598 Death of Philip II; Peace of Vervins between Spain and France; Cum-
berland attacks San Juan (P.R.)
1599 First fleet of Dutch salt-gatherers lands at Punta de Araya (Venezuela);
Portuguese attack Malabar
1600 Olivier van Noort enters Spanish South Pacific
1603 Death of Elizabeth I; peace with Spain under James I (1604)
1605 Fajardo expedition punishes Dutch at Punta de Araya; policy of
depopulation instituted in northern Hispaniola
1609 Beginning of Twelve-Year Truce between Spain and Dutch rebels;
Grotius publishes Mare Liberum
1615 Speilbergen destroys South Sea Fleet off Cañete (Peru)
Another random document with
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approach very near it. It rarely on such occasions takes to wing, but
throws itself into the thicket, and makes off on foot by means of
pretty long leaps.
I have never seen this bird moving on wing to a sufficient distance to
enable me to speak with certainty of its mode of flight, especially as
it is one of our most nocturnal species, seldom beginning to seek for
prey before it is quite dusky. In the morning I have never seen one
abroad at however early an hour I have been on the look-out.
The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in which its young
are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself with an
abandoned nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient size,
whether it be high or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the ground.
Sometimes however it makes a nest itself, and this I found to be the
case in one instance near the Juniatta River in Pennsylvania, where
it was composed of green twigs with the leaflets adhering, and lined
with fresh grass and sheep wool, but without feathers. The eggs are
usually four, nearly equally rounded at both ends, thin-shelled,
smooth, when newly deposited pure white, with a slight blush, which
is no longer observable when they have been for some time sitten
upon, their average length an inch and a half, their greatest breadth
an inch and three-sixteenths. I found eggs of this bird on the 15th of
April, and again on the 25th of June, which induces me to believe
that it rears two broods in the season in the State of Pennsylvania,
as it probably does also to the westward. Wilson relates the
following instance of its indifference as to the place selected for its
eggs. “About six or seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far from
the Delaware, is a low swamp, thickly covered with trees, and
inundated during great part of the year. This place is the resort of
great numbers of the Qua-bird or Night Raven (Ardea Nycticorax),
where they build in large companies. On the 25th of April, while
wading among the dark recesses of this place, observing the habits
of these birds, I discovered a Long-eared Owl, which had taken
possession of one of their nests, and was sitting; on mounting to the
nest, I found it contained four eggs, and breaking one of these, the
young appeared almost ready to leave the shell. There were
numbers of the Qua-birds’ nests on the adjoining trees all around,
and one of them actually on the same tree.”
When encamped in the woods, I have frequently heard the notes of
this bird at night. Its cry is prolonged and plaintive, though consisting
of not more than two or three notes repeated at intervals.
Dr Richardson states that it has been found “as far north as Lat.
60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend. It is plentiful
in the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the
coast of Hudson’s Bay only in the summer, and retires into the
interior in the winter. It resides all the year in the United States, and
perhaps is not a rare bird in any part of North America; but as it
comes seldom abroad in the day, fewer specimens are obtained of it
than of the other Owls. It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus
Arvicola, and in summer destroys many beetles. It lays three or four
roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the
deserted nests of other birds in low bushes. Mr Hutchins says it
lays in April, and that the young fly in May; and Mr Drummond found
a nest on the ground in the same neighbourhood, containing three
eggs, on the 5th of July, and killed both the birds. On comparing the
above-mentioned eggs with those of the English Long-eared Owl,
the American ones proved to be smaller, measuring only an inch and
a half in length, and 1.27 inches in breadth; while the English ones
measured 1.8 inch in length, and 1 1/4 in breadth. The form and
colour were the same in both.”
The food of this Owl consists of rats, mice, and other small
quadrupeds, as well as birds of various species; its stomach having
been found by me crammed with feathers and other remains of the
latter.
There is a marked difference between the sexes. The males are not
only smaller than the females, but darker; and this has tempted me
to consider the Strix Mexicanus of Mr Swainson and the Prince of
Musignano as merely a large female of our Long-eared Owl.

Strix Otus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 132.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p 53.—
Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 37.
Long-eared Owl, Strix Otus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 52, pl. 50, fig. 1.
Strix Otus, Long-eared Owl, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol.
ii. p. 72.
Long-eared Owl, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 130.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXIII.

Bill short, stout; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly curved
from the base, towards the end decurved, the ridge broad at the
base, narrowed anteriorly, convex in its whole extent, the sides
sloping at the base, convex towards the tip, the edges soft and
obtuse as far as the nostrils, then sharp and barred to the end, below
the nostrils inflected, afterwards direct, the tip acute, and at its
extremity descending obliquely; the cere of moderate length,
feathered on the sides; the lower mandible straight, its angle
elongated, wide, and rounded, the dorsal line very short and slightly
convex, the back and sides convex, the edges toward the end sharp
and inflected, their outline decurved and with a slight sinus on each
side, the tip obliquely truncate. Nostrils medial, lateral, large, oblique,
oblong, in the fore edge of the cere, with a tough soft membrane
above, and having internally a ridge curved backwards from the
inner edge.
Head very large, flattened anteriorly; neck short; body very slender,
but seeming large on account of the great mass of plumage. Feet of
moderate length, and stout; tarsi feathered, short; toes also short,
and feathered; the third and fourth connected at the base by a short
web; the first shortest, and admitting of much lateral motion, the third
longest, the second and fourth nearly equal. On all the toes are two
terminal scutella. Claws long, curved in the fourth of a circle,
tapering, extremely acute, rounded above, very narrow beneath, the
first and second rounded, the rest flat; that of the fourth toe smallest,
of the first slightly larger, those of the other toes much larger and
nearly equal.
Plumage extremely soft and downy. The facial disks complete, and
composed of circular series of weak, slender, slightly recurved
feathers, having remote barbs; surrounding which is a ruff formed of
several rows of oblong incurved feathers, having the barbs close.
The feathers of the forehead are apparent between the ruffs,
although that part is very narrow; the bill is partially concealed by the
plumage; the feathers are oblong or ovate, and rounded, extremely
soft, and blended, those on the tarsi and toes, small, and somewhat
silky. Wings long and broad; primaries very broad, rounded, the
outer a little incurved towards the end, the first sinuate on the inner
web near the end, the second very slightly so; the second longest,
the third a little shorter, the fourth a little longer than the first; the
outer in its whole length, the second towards the end, and the first
alular feather, with the barbs disunited and recurved at the ends. Tail
rather short, slightly convex, a little rounded, of twelve broad
rounded feathers, having feeble shafts.
Bill brownish-black, cere flesh-coloured; iris orange; claws bluish-
grey, dusky towards the end. The colouring of the plumage is very
intricate, but may be described as buff, mottled and spotted with
brown and greyish-white. The disks are whitish anteriorly, with the
tips black, posteriorly reddish-white; the ruff mottled with red and
black; the upper part of the head, minutely mottled with whitish,
brownish-black, and light red; the tufts light reddish toward the base,
brownish-black in the central part toward the end, the inner edge
white, dotted with dark-brown. The upper parts are buff, variegated
with brown and whitish-grey, minutely mottled or undulatingly barred.
The first row of coverts tipped with white on the outer web; the edge
of the wing, and the outer margin of the first alular feather also white;
the alula and primary coverts greyish-brown barred with darker; the
quills and scapulars pale grey, barred with dark brown, and having
more or less buff towards the base of the outer web, that colour
being conspicuous on the six outer primaries. The tail is barred and
mottled in the same manner, the bars very narrow, ten on the middle
and eight on the outer feathers. The lower parts are in general
similar to the upper, but with more buff, and fewer spots, each
feather with a long dark brown streak and several irregular
transverse bars. The legs and toes are pure buff. The lower surface
of the wing is yellowish-white, a few of the coverts with a brown spot;
the quills banded with brown towards the end. The lower tail-coverts
have a narrow central brown line.
Length to end of tail 14 1/2 inches, to end of claws 14 3/4, to end of
wings 15; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 11 1/2; tail 6; bill
along the ridge 1 5/12; tarsus 1 8/12; hind toe 7 1/2/12, its claw 8/12;
second toe 1, its claw 9/12; third toe 1 2/12, its claw 10/12; fourth toe
8/12, its claw 7/12. Weight 8 oz.
The Female is considerably larger, and of a lighter colour than the
male, but otherwise similar.
A male sent in spirits from Boston by Dr Brewer:—The roof of the
mouth is flat, with two longitudinal ridges, the sides ascending; the
posterior aperture of the nares oblong, 4 twelfths long, with an
anterior fissure. The tongue is 7 1/2 twelfths long, deeply emarginate
and papillate at the base, flattish above, with a faint median groove,
the sides parallel, the tip narrowed and emarginate. The mouth is
very wide, measuring 1 inch and 1 1/2 twelfth. The œsophagus is
5 1/2 inches long, of nearly uniform diameter throughout, as in all
other Owls, its breadth being 1 inch. The proventricular glandules
form a belt 9 twelfths in diameter. The stomach is large, round, 1
inch 9 twelfths long, 1 inch 7 twelfths broad, its walls thin, its
muscular coat composed of rather coarse fasciculi, but without
distinction into lateral muscles, the tendinous spaces circular, and
about 8 twelfths in diameter; its epithelium soft and rugous. The
duodenum is 3 twelfths in diameter, and curves at the distance of 3
inches from the pylorus. The intestine is 23 inches long, its smallest
diameter only 1 twelfth. The cœca, Fig. 2, are in this individual
unequal, as they very frequently are in Owls; the largest being 2
inches 10 twelfths in length, their greatest diameter 5 1/2 twelfths,
their distance from the anus 3 inches and a quarter. The cloaca is of
an enormous size, ovate, 2 inches long, 1 inch 2 twelfths broad. It
contains a calculous concretion 9 twelfths long, 7 twelfths broad, and
3 twelfths thick.
The trachea, which is 3 inches long, is 3 1/2 twelfths in breadth at the
upper part, 2 1/2 twelfths in the middle, and 3 twelfths at its lower
extremity; its rings about 75 in number, cartilaginous, and
considerably flattened. The lateral muscles are strong, the sterno-
tracheal moderate, and there is a single pair of very slender inferior
laryngeal muscles. Five of the lower rings are elongated, arched,
and slit. The bronchi are rather long, of 12 half rings.
 Fig. 1.

The conch of the ear, Fig. 1, is of enormous size, extending from the
level of the forehead over the eye to the chin, in a semilunar form, of
which the posterior curve is 3 inches, and the distance between the
two extremities in a direct line 1 inch and a half. There is an anterior
semicircular flap in its whole length, 5 twelfths in breadth at the
middle. The aperture or meatus externus is of a rhomboidal form
4 1/2 twelfths in length, 3 1/2 twelfths broad, bounded anteriorly by the
eye, posteriorly by a ligament extended along the edge of the
occipital bone, above by a ligament stretching to the operculum,
below the articulation of the lower jaw. Above the meatus is a deep
depression covered with skin, above which another ligament
stretches across to the operculum.
 Fig. 2.

In another specimen, a female, the œsophagus is 5 1/2 inches long,

its average diameter 11 twelfths. The intestine is 21 inches long,
from 2 1/2 twelfths to 1 twelfth in diameter; the cœca are 2 1/4 inches
in length; their greatest diameter 4 twelfths; the cloaca still larger
than that of the other individuals, being 2 inches long.
 BLACK-THROATED BUNTING.

Emberiza Americana, Gmel.

PLATE CCCLXXXIV. Male and Female.

Although this handsome Bunting may be said to be abundant in our

middle Atlantic districts, it is there much less so than in the vast
prairies of the south-west; and I consider those of the Texas to afford
the localities best adapted to its habits. There, as my companions
and I were returning from the capital of the infant republic, Houston,
we were surprised to see how very numerous the Black-throated
Buntings were in every open piece of ground covered by tufts of tall
grass. They are also abundant on the open lands of Missouri and
Illinois: but rarer in Ohio, and scarce in Kentucky. They are rarely
observed to pass over South Carolina, but in Pennsylvania they are
plentiful, and there breed in every field covered with grass or grain. I
have also met with them in Massachusetts, but beyond this they are
not seen to the eastward.
At the approach of the period of their removal from our Middle States
southward, the Black-throated Buntings congregate in particular
localities, as if to consult regarding their future proceedings. At this
season I once went from Philadelphia in search of them,
accompanied by my friend Edward Harris, and my son John
Woodhouse. Having reached Salem in New Jersey, we rambled
some time in the neighbourhood, and found an elevated piece of
ground, closely covered with high rank weeds, among which a great
number of these birds had assembled. It being late in July, the males
were moulting, or had already acquired their new plumage; the
young, although full grown, had not yet assumed their second
clothing, in which the sexes are distinguished; and the females were
generally ragged. The birds were at first quite gentle, but after we
had fired a few times they all flew off to a considerable distance,
from which, however, they soon returned. On our continuing to
harass them, however, they rose high in the air, and flew out of our
sight in a southward direction. They had then undoubtedly begun
migrating. These birds are very partial to particular localities. Sandy
soil, unmixed with clay or earth, is not favourable to them; and it is
probably for this reason that none are found in any purely sandy part
of the State of New Jersey.
The Black-throated Buntings reach our Middle States about the 10th
or 15th of May, and at once betake themselves to the dry meadow
lands and grain fields, where they soon after begin to breed. The
males are often observed perched on the top branches of the shade
trees found in those places, and engaged in delighting their mates
with their simple ditty, which, according to my learned friend Mr
Nuttall, resembles ’tic ’tic-tshĕ tshĕ tshĕ tshe, and tship tship,
tschĕ tschĕ tschĕ tschip. To my ears the notes of our Black-throated
Bunting so much resemble those of the Corn Bunting of Europe,
Emberiza Miliaria, that I have often been reminded of the one by
hearing the song of the other. These unmusical notes are almost
continuously uttered from sunrise to sunset, and all this while the
female is snugly seated on her eggs, and listening to her beloved.
He often visits her, alighting within a few yards of where she is
concealed, and then cautiously proceeding toward the spot on foot,
through the grass. When the bird leaves the nest, it creeps along to
some distance, and then flies off low over the ground.
About the first of June the nest is formed. It is constructed of fine
grass neatly woven in a circular form, and is partly imbedded in the
soil, and sheltered or concealed by a tuft of herbage. The eggs,
usually five, are six and a half eighths in length, four and three-
fourths in breadth, of a sullied white, generally sprinkled with faint
touches of different tints of umber. In Pennsylvania, it seldom rears
more than one brood in the season; but in the Texas, I have reason
to believe that it raises two.
The flight of this bird, when it has settled in a place, is usually of
short extent. The male, while passing to and fro from the nest,
exhibits a quivering motion of the wings. The female seldom shews
this, unless when her property is in danger from intruders. While
travelling, which they always do by day, they pass high over the
trees, in flocks of thirty or forty, which suddenly alight at the
approach of night, and throw themselves into the most thickly-leaved
trees, where they repose until dawn. I have surprised them in such
situations both in Kentucky and in Louisiana, and on shooting into
the place to which they had betaken themselves, although I could
not see them, have procured several at one discharge; which proved
in one instance to be males, and in the other females, thus shewing
that the sexes travel separately. On such occasions, the survivors
would sally forth, make a few rapid evolutions, and alight on the
same tree.
In spring, I have found them, on two or three occasions, near
Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, in meadows, in company with
Bob-o-links, Emberiza Oryzivora. On the ground they leap or hop,
but never walk. Their flesh is good, especially that of the young
birds.

Emberiza Americana, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 872.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i.
p. 411.
Black-throated Bunting, Emberiza Americana, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. i.
p. 54, pl. 3, fig. 2, male.
 Fringilla Americana, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p.
107.
Black-throated Bunting, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 461.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig. 1.

Bill of moderate length, stout, conical, compressed toward the end;
upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinate and convex, the
ridge indistinct, the sides convex, the edges a little inflected,
ascending to beneath the nostrils, then descending, with a slight
notch close to the narrow tip: lower mandible with the angle short
and wide, the dorsal line ascending and very slightly convex, the
ridge broad at the base, the sides convex, the edges ascending at
the base, then straight and involute to the end, the tip narrow.
Nostrils basal, roundish in the fore part of the very short and wide
nasal depression.
Head large, ovate; neck very short; body rather stout. Feet of
moderate length, rather strong; tarsus of ordinary length,
compressed, with seven anterior scutella, thin-edged behind; toes
rather large; the hind one strong and longer than the lateral, which
are equal, the third much longer, and united to the fourth at the base.
Claws long, arched, much compressed, acute.
Plumage soft and blended, but firm. Wings of moderate length,
acute; the first quill longest, the second slightly shorter, the other
primaries graduated; secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail of
moderate length, emarginate, of twelve rather narrow, obliquely
pointed feathers.
Bill light blue; iris hazel; feet light brownish-red, claws of the same
colour. The upper part of the head, the cheeks and the hind neck are
ash-grey, the feathers on the head with a central blackish streak;
loral space, a band over the eye, and a shorter one beneath it, bright
yellow. The fore part of the back greyish-brown, with longitudinal
streaks of brownish-black; the hind parts brownish-grey. The smaller
wing-coverts are bright chestnut, the quills and large coverts
blackish-brown, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries and their
coverts broadly edged with pale greyish-brown. The tail is dark
greyish-brown, the feathers faintly margined with paler. The fore
neck is light yellow, the throat at first white, then with a large patch of
black; the breast, sides, abdomen, legs and lower tail-coverts white,
the breast tinged with yellow, the sides with grey; the lower wing-
coverts yellow.
Length to end of tail 6 1/2 inches, to end of wings 5, to end of claws
6 1/4; extent of wings 10 3/8; wing from flexure 3 3/8; tail 2 1/2; bill
along the ridge 7/12, along the edge of lower mandible 8/12; tarsus
10 1/2/ ; hind toe 4
1/
/12, its claw 5
2
1/
/12,; middle toe 8/12, its claw
2
12
4 1/2/ .
12

Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig. 2.

The Female has the upper parts coloured as in the male, but paler;
the lower parts are also similar, but in place of the black patch on the
throat, there are only two dusky lines from the base of the lower
mandible, and some faint streaks on the lower part of the neck and
the sides.
Length to end of tail 6, to end of wings 4, to end of claws 5 7/8; extent
of wings 9; wing from flexure 3; tail 2 5/12; bill along the ridge 6 1/2/12;
1/2 1/2
tarsus 10 /12; hind toe 4 /12, its claw 5/12; middle toe 3/12, its claw
3 1/2/ .
12

In an adult male, the roof of the mouth has anteriorly three

longitudinal ridges, and two lateral grooves; the palate descends
obliquely, and at its anterior part has a distinct prominence of a
softish texture; from which there passes backwards and outwards, a
large soft ridge on each side of the nasal aperture; which is linear
and papillate. The tongue is 5 1/2 twelfths long, narrow, deep,
trigonal, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, soft for half its
length, convex and hard towards the end, which terminates with
bristly points. The œsophagus, a b c d, is 2 1/2 inches long, dilated
along the greater part of the neck into a kind of crop, b, 5 twelfths in
diameter, lying on the right side along with the trachea. The
proventriculus, c d, is not much enlarged. The stomach, e f, is a
strong gizzard, of a broad elliptical form, 7 1/2 twelfths in length, 6 1/2
twelfths in breadth. Its contents are small hard seeds, a few remains
of insects, and some particles of sand. The epithelium is very tough,
longitudinally rugous, and of a dark reddish-brown colour. The
intestine, f g h, is 8 1/2 inches long, its greatest diameter 2 twelfths.
The rectum, j k l, is 9 twelfths long; the cœca, j, extremely small,
being 1 1/2 twelfth long and 1/2 twelfth in diameter.

The trachea, which is 1 inch 10 twelfths long, is rather wide,

flattened, of uniform diameter, measuring 1 3/4 inch across, the rings
about 55, and ossified. The contractor muscles are of moderate
strength; the sterno-tracheal slender; and there are four pairs of
inferior laryngeal. The bronchi have about 15 half rings.
In its habits, this bird closely resembles the Common or Corn
Bunting of Europe, its flight and notes being almost the same. Like it,
our bird alights on walls, fences, detached rocks, or eminences of
any kind, where it is often seen even in the immediate
neighbourhood of our cities. Indeed, I have found it in full song
perched on the trees that ornament the squares of Washington city.
In the form of its bill it also agrees with the Buntings, although that
organ is proportionally longer and less attenuated toward the end. If,
on the principle of minute division, it is not admitted into the genus
Emberiza, it must at least occupy a place in its immediate proximity.
The plants represented are the Phalaris arundinacea and
Antirrhinum Linaria, both common in many parts of the United
States, as well as in Europe; the former growing in wet meadows
and by the sides of rivers, the latter in fields and waste places, a
troublesome weed, very difficult to be extirpated.
 BANK SWALLOW OR SAND MARTIN.

Hirundo riparia, Linn.

PLATE CCCLXXXV. Male, Female, and Young.

Imagine, Reader, how delighted I was when, in East Florida, in the

winter of 1831, I found thousands of Bank Swallows gaily skimming
over the waters, and along the shores of the rivers and inlets. So
numerous indeed were they that I felt inclined to think that the
greater part of those which are in summer dispersed over the United
States, and the regions still farther north, must have congregated to
form those vast swarms. The first time I saw them was before
sunrise, when I stood by the side of Lieutenant Percy of our Navy,
on the deck of the United States’ schooner the Spark, then at anchor
opposite St Augustine. The weather though warm, was thick and
drizzly, so that we could not see to a great distance; but as probably
some hundreds of thousands passed close to the vessel, in long and
rather close flocks, I was well enabled to assure myself that the birds
were of this species. On my expressing my surprise and delight at
beholding so vast a concourse, Lieutenant Percy assured me, that
he had seen them on all the streams which he had visited south of
where we then were. The weather cleared up in a few hours, the sun
shone brightly, and the little creatures were seen all around, dipping
into the water to wash themselves, gambolling close over its surface,
and busily engaged in procuring insects, which in that country are
always abundant. In the course of the same season I also observed
a good number of our Green-backed and Barn Swallows, but few
compared with what is seen about New Orleans.
We can thus account for the early appearance of the Bank Swallows
in our Middle Districts. That species always arrives there sooner than
the rest, sometimes preceding them by a fortnight, and keeping
equally in advance as far northward as its range extends. The
Green-backed Swallow, Hirundo bicolor, follows closely after it; then
the Purple Martin, Hirundo purpurea; after which are seen the Barn
Swallow, Hirundo rustica, and lastly, on our eastern Atlantic coasts,
the American Swift, Cypselus Americanus. It is probable that these
species extend their autumnal migrations southward in a degree
proportionate to the lateness of their appearance in Spring. I have
likewise observed the arrival of the Bank Swallows on the waters of
the Serpentine River and those of the Regent’s Park, in London, to
be in the same proportion earlier than that of the other species which
visit England in spring, and have thought that, as with us, the first
mentioned species retires to a less distance in winter than the rest.
The Bank Swallow has been observed on both sides of North
America, and in all intermediate places suited to its habits. This is
easily accounted for, when we reflect how easy it is for these birds to
follow our great water-courses to their very sources. Even the ponds
and lakes of our vast forests are at times visited by them; but no
person seems to have been aware of the existence of two species of
Bank Swallows in our country, which, however, I shall presently shew
to be the case.
Wherever, throughout the United States, sand-banks or artificial
excavations occur, there is found the Bank Swallow during the
breeding season, in greater or smaller numbers, according to the
advantages presented by the different localities, not only along the
shores of our rivers and lakes, but also on the coasts of the Atlantic,
and not unfrequently in inland situations, at some distance from any
water. High banks, composed of softish sandy earth, on the shores
of rivers, lakes, or other waters, suit them best, and in such
situations their colonies are far more numerous than elsewhere. The
banks of the Ohio, and some parts of those of the Mississippi, called
“Bluffs” have appeared to me to be more resorted to by this species
in our western and southern districts, although I have met with
considerable numbers in every State of the Union.
In Louisiana this species begins to breed early in March, and
generally rears two, sometimes three broods in a season. In our
Middle Districts it commences about a month later, or about the
period at which it lays in Kentucky, and there produces two broods.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, it rarely begins to breed before the
beginning of June, and lays only once. Dr Richardson states, that
he saw “thousands of these Swallows near the mouth of the
Mackenzie, in the sixty-eighth parallel, on the 4th of July,” and from
the state of the weather at that period supposed that they had
arrived there at least a fortnight prior to that date, but no specimens
were brought to England, and the description given in the Fauna
Boreali-Americana is a mere transcript of that which in itself is quite
imperfect. Indeed, there is not in any work with which I am
acquainted an account of the Sand Swallow, sufficiently minute and
accurate to characterize in an adequate manner that very common
species.
The sociability and gentleness of these birds, the lightness and
vigour with which they perform their various evolutions, the low and
unobtrusive twittering of their voice, in short, all their actions and
economy, are delightful to contemplate. Their flight is exceedingly
graceful, light, yet firm, and capable of great continuance. They
seem indeed as if created for the purpose of spending their time on
wing, for they alight less often to rest when full grown than any other
of our species, when not sitting on their eggs, and are seen abroad
searching for food later in the dusk, retiring for the night as late, I
think, as our Swift, Cypselus Americanus. As they procure their food
more commonly than the other species along the margins or over the
surface of pools, lakes, rivers, or even the sea, their flight is
generally performed at a small elevation, which is the case with
others only when the wind blows smartly, or the atmosphere is damp
and chill. The movements of their wings are those common to the
family of Swallows, which flap these members less frequently than
perhaps any other small land birds. The wings act on the hinge
formed by the carpal joint, opening and closing like the blades of
scissors. Their sailings, though frequent, are not extensive, and their
tail appears to be of great service to them, as you observe that on
the least deviation from a straight course, it becomes suddenly more
or less closed or inclined upward, downward, or sideways; and when
you see some hundreds of pairs about their breeding places,
passing, repassing, and crossing each other in various ways, you
almost wonder that they never come into collision with each other.
The slightest movement in any direction seems sufficient to enable
them to overtake and secure their prey; and they less frequently than
any other species follow an insect upward to any great distance. Like
all other Swallows, they drink and bathe on wing.
Their migrations are performed by day, although perhaps continued
by night, and their movements are more desultory and rather slower
than those of other Swallows. It is rare to observe them in great
flocks at that time, their associations not being apparently formed
until they reach the countries in which they spend the winter months.
Their flight, when they are thus travelling, is continued rather low
over the land or the water; and as in America they retire to a less
distance southward than our other Swallows, they are not
unfrequently seen to linger behind the rest. In South Carolina,
indeed, I have seen some in November.
In summer and autumn they roost in the holes excavated for their
nests; but in winter, at least in the Floridas, they always repose at
night among the tall grass of the salt marshes, making choice of
situations sheltered by the winds and not liable to be overflowed. At
this time they keep together in large bodies while searching for food.
I have several times accidentally crossed their roosting places, which
I at once recognised by the quantity of their dung attached to the
blades, and lying on the ground, and from which I infer that they rest
clinging to the plants.
At the first appearance of spring they leave their winter quarters in
pairs, or singly, or in very small flocks; but they follow each other so
closely in this manner as to form an almost continued line of march. I
had the pleasure of observing this to be the case with the Barn
Swallow also, whilst I was proceeding toward the Texas, when that
species was advancing in a contrary direction.
Although small, the Sand Swallow is a rather hardy bird: for I
observed that the transient cold weather that at times occurs in the
Florida at night, seldom forces them to remove farther south. On one
occasion, however, when the ice was about the thickness of a dollar,
many were found dead along the shores, as well as floating on the
water, whilst the rest appeared in great perturbation, wending their
way in a hurried manner toward the warmer parts of the country, and
taking advantage of every spot that afforded them more warmth,
such as the borders of woods, and high banks of streams. I am,
however, of opinion that the inclemency of the weather at times
proves to be the greatest evil these birds have to encounter,
especially when in early spring they are moving northward, and
occasionally meet with a sudden change from temperate to cold.
Even in the places selected for their summer residence, great
numbers die in their holes, and many have been found there in a
state bordering on torpidity.
Their food, which consists of small insects, principally of the
hymenopterous kind, even during winter in the Floridas, is procured
on wing. They very seldom approach walls or the trunks of trees to
seize them, but frequently snatch them from the tops of grasses or