The Cave Swallow in Texas

Among the group of birds of tropical and subtropical distribution that reach their northern limits in the southwestern United States, the Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulvu) is of special interest since it nests colonially in caves. It was first reported in the United States by Scott (1890), who collected two vagrants of the.Cuban and Isle of Pines race, P. f. “caticoZa” (= cmmata, fide Hellmayr, 1934: 34)) on Garden Key, Dry Tortugas, Florida, on March 22 and 25, 1890. Twenty years later Bishop (1910:459) reported specimens obtained in Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas, which he referred to P. f. pullida, a race described by Nelson (1902: 2 11) from Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. That the Cave Swallow breeds in Texas was established in 1915 by Thayer’s report of nests and eggs collected near Japonica, Kerr County. A year later the existence of “several isolated colonies” six miles west of Ingram, Kerr County, was announced by Smith ( 19 16: 191) . Recently an extension of known breeding range to Eddy County, New Mexico, was reported (Kincaid and Prasil, 1956:452), and the existence of a colony in Edwards County, Texas, was briefly noted (Wolfe, 1956: 50, and Pettingill, 1957:32). With the exception of these reports, a record of two individuals seen on the Tortugas in June, 1915 (Hull, 1939: 24), and a description of a ceratophyllid flea from nests in Uvalde County, Texas (Eads, 1956:73-76), no further accounts of the Cave Swallow in the United States have been forthcoming in the 41 years since Smith’s report. It therefore seems desirable to present additional information concerning variation, distribution, and ecology of this species in Texas.