The abundance of this species varies in different parts of the country, from causes not always apparent. In the vicinity of Boston it is quite unusual, though said to have been, forty years since, quite common. There their places are taken by the H. bicolor, who occupy almost exclusively the martin-houses, and very rarely build in hollow trees.
Sir John Richardson states that it arrives within the Arctic Circle earlier than any other of its family. It made its first appearance at Great Bear Lake as early as the 17th of May, when the ground was covered with snow, and the rivers and lakes were all icebound.
In the Southern States it is said to raise three broods in a season; in its more northern distribution it raises but one. Their early migrations expose the Martins to severe exposure and suffering from changes of weather, in which large numbers have been known to perish. An occurrence of this kind is said to have taken place in Eastern Massachusetts, where nearly all the birds of this species were destroyed, and where to this day their places have never been supplied.
Within its selected compartment the Martin prepares a loose and irregular nest. This is composed of various materials, such as fine dry leaves, straws, stems of grasses, fine twigs, bits of string, rags, etc. These are carelessly thrown together, and the whole is usually warmly lined with feathers or other soft materials. This nest is occupied year after year by the same pair, but with each new brood the nest is thoroughly repaired, and often increased in size by the accumulation of new materials.
The Martins do not winter in the United States, but enter the extreme Southern portions early in February. Audubon states that they arrive often in prodigious flocks. On the Ohio their advent is about the 15th of March, and in Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania about the 10th of April. About Boston their appearance is from the 25th of April to the middle of May. Mr. Audubon states that they all return to the Southern States about the 20th of August, but this is hardly correct. Their departure varies very much with the season. In the fall of 1870 they were to be found in large flocks, slowly moving southward, but often remaining several days at a time at the same place, and then proceeding to their next halt. Their favorite places for such stops are usually a high and uninhabited hillside near the sea.
The Martin is a bold and courageous bird, prompt to meet and repel dangers, especially when threatened by winged enemies, never hesitating to attack and drive them away from its neighborhood. It is therefore a valuable protection to the barnyard. Its food is the larger kinds of insects, especially beetles, in destroying which it again does good service to the husbandman. The song of the Martin is a succession of twitters, which, without being musical, are far from being unpleasant; they begin with the earliest dawn, and during the earlier periods of incubation are almost incessantly repeated. The eggs of the Purple Martin measure .94 of an inch in length by .79 in breadth. They are of an oblong-oval shape, are pointed at one end, are of a uniform creamy-white, and are never spotted. They are quite uniform in size and shape. Eggs from Florida are proportionally smaller than those from the Northern States.
Progne subis, var. cryptoleuca, Baird
CUBAN MARTIN
Progne cryptoleuca, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 277. Hirundo purpurea, D’Orb. Sagra’s Cuba, Ois. 1840, 94 (excl. syn.). Progne purpurea, Cab. Jour. 1856, 3.—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861.
Sp. Char. (No. 34,242, ♂). Color much as in P. subis,—rich steel-blue, with purple or violet gloss; the wings and tail, however, much more decidedly glossed, and with a shade of greenish. The feathers around the anus and in the anterior portion of crissum with dark bluish down at base, pure snowy-white in the middle, and then blackish, passing into the usual steel-blue. The white is entirely concealed, and its amount and purity diminish as the feathers are more and more distant, until it fades into the usual gray median portion of the feather. The usual concealed white patch on the sides under the wings. Total length, 7.60; wing, 5.50; tail, 3.40; perpendicular depth of fork, .86; difference between first and ninth primary, 2.75; length of bill from forehead, .55; from nostril, .34; along gape, .86; width, .58; tarsus, .53; middle toe and claw, .79; claw alone, .24; hind toe and claw, .52; claw alone, .25.
Female (17,730, Monte Verde, Cuba, May 2; C. Wright). Above steel-blue, less glossy than in the male, and becoming lustreless dark smoky-brown on the forehead. Head, laterally and beneath, with jugulum and sides, uniform brownish-gray (without darker shafts or lighter borders to feathers, as in subis); whole abdomen, anal region, and crissum snowy-white, including the shafts. Wing, 5.40; tail, 2.80; fork of tail, .70 deep.
Young male (10,368, Cape Florida, May 18, 1858; G. Wurdemann). Similar to the female, but the steel-blue above more brilliant and continuous, the forehead and wings being nearly as lustrous as the back; throat and jugulum mixed with steel-blue feathers, and crissum with some feathers of steel-blue bordered with whitish. Wing. 5.40; tail, 2.90; fork of tail, .80 deep.
Hab. Cuba, and Florida Keys? (Perhaps Bahamas.)
This species has a close external resemblance to P. subis, for which it has usually been mistaken. It is of nearly the same size, but the feet are disproportionately smaller and weaker; while the wings are shorter, the tail is as long and more deeply forked; the feathers considerably narrower, and more attenuated (the outer .40 wide, instead of .46). The colors above are more brilliant, and extend more over the greater wing-coverts and lining of wings, while the quills and tail-feathers have a richer gloss of purplish, changing to greenish. An apparently good diagnostic feature is the concealed pure white of the feathers about the anal regions, replaced in subis by grayish, rarely approximating to whitish.
A Progne collected by Mr. Wright, at Monte Verde, is duller in color than that from Remedios, but has still more concealed white below, in the median portion, not only of the anal feathers, but of those of the entire crissum and of the belly. A female bird, which I presume to be the same species, can scarcely be distinguished from the female of dominicensis, except in the brownish shafts of the longer crissal feathers, and an almost imperceptible tinge of brownish in the webs of the same feathers. It is almost exactly like the P. leucogaster of Mexico and Central America.
This species is included in the North American fauna in consequence of the capture of a specimen (No. 10,368 ♂ juv., May 18, 1858) at Cape Florida, which is with scarcely a doubt referable to it. This specimen is a young male in its second year, so that it is difficult to ascertain positively its relationship to the two allied species; but as it agrees perfectly in its proportions with cryptoleuca, and its plumage differs from the corresponding one of subis in essential respects, we have little hesitation in referring it to the former.
Nothing distinctive is recorded as to the habits of this bird.
Genus PETROCHELIDON, Cabanis
Petrochelidon, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1850, 1851, 47. (Type, Hirundo melanogaster, Swains. = P. swainsoni, Scl.)
Petrochelidon lunifrons.
18322
Gen. Char. Bill stout and deep, somewhat as in Progne. Nostrils entirely superior, open, without overhanging membrane on the inner (or upper) side, but somewhat overhung by short bristles, seen also along base of inner mandible and in chin. Legs stout; the tarsi short, not exceeding the middle toe exclusive of its claw; feathered all round for basal third or fourth, though no feathers are inserted on the posterior face. Tail falling short of the closed wings, nearly square or slightly emarginate; the lateral feathers broad to near the ends, and not attenuated.
Of this genus as restricted we have but one species in North America, although several others occur in the West Indies and the southern parts of the continent. All have the back steel-blue, with concealed streaks of white; the rump, crissum, and a narrow nuchal band, and usually the forehead, chestnut.
Petrochelidon lunifrons, Baird
CLIFF SWALLOW; EAVE SWALLOW
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.
Genus HIRUNDO, Linn
Hirundo, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 10th ed. 1758, 191. (Type, H. rustica, Linn.)
Hirundo horreorum.
1452
Under the generic head of Hirundo I propose to combine several groups of American Swallows agreeing in moderate, depressed bill, with straight commissure, and lateral nostrils overhung by membrane; the tarsi feathered only at the upper end, or else entirely bare; the lateral claws moderate, not extending beyond the base of the median; the edge of the outer primary without hooks; the tail variable in character, from a very deep fork to a slight emargination only.
Subgenera
Tarsi slightly feathered on inner face at upper end; equal in length to middle toe without claw.
Tail very deeply forked … Hirundo.
Tail slightly forked or emarginate … Tachycineta.
Tarsi entirely naked; lengthened equal to middle toe and half its claw.
Tail considerably forked … Callichelidon.69
Subgenus HIRUNDO, Linn
Gen. Char. Nostrils lateral. Tarsi short, not exceeding middle toe without its claw; the upper joint covered with feathers, which extend a short distance along the inner face of tarsus. Tail very deeply forked; the lateral feather much attenuated, twice as long as the middle. Basal joint of middle toe free for terminal fourth on outside, for half on inside. Nest partly of mud, and lined with feathers; eggs spotted.
In type, and in American species, the forehead and throat rufous; a black pectoral collar; tail-feathers with large light spots on inner webs.
But one species, so far as known, of this subgenus as restricted, belongs to America. There are, however, quite a number known in the Old World.
Hirundo horreorum, Barton
BARN SWALLOW
Hirundo horreorum, Barton, Fragments N. H. Penna. 1799, 17.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 308; Rev. 294.—A. & E. Newton, Ibis, 1859, 66 (Sta. Cruz; transient).—Sclater & Salvin, Ibis, 1859, 13 (Guatemala).—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, 173 (City of Mex.)—Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1861, 316 (Panama).—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. Rep. XII, II, 184 (south of Columbia River).—Dall & Bannister, 279 (Alaska).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 103.—Samuels, 254. Hirundo rufa, Vieill.—Cassin, Ill.—Brewer, N. Am. Ool. I, 1857, 91, pl. v, fig. 63-67 (eggs).—Cab. Jour. IV, 1856, 3 (Cuba; spring and autumn).—Reinhardt, Ibis, 1861, 5 (Greenland; two specimens).—Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 1861, 328 (Cuba; common). Hirundo americana, Wilson; Rich.; Lembeye, Aves de Cuba, 1850, 44, lam. vii, fig. 2. Hirundo rustica, Aud. Orn. Biog. II, pl. clxxiii.—Ib. Birds Am. I, pl. xlviii.—Jones, Nat. Hist. Bermuda, 34 (Bermudas; Aug. and Sept.).
Hirundo horreorum.
Sp. Char. Tail very deeply forked; outer feathers several inches longer than the inner, very narrow towards the end. Above glossy blue, with concealed white in the middle of the back. Throat chestnut; rest of lower part reddish-white, not conspicuously different. A steel-blue collar on the upper part of the breast, interrupted in the middle. Tail-feathers with a white spot near the middle, on the inner web. Female with the outer tail-feather not quite so long. Length, 6.90 inches; wing, 5.00; tail, 4.50.
Hab. Whole of the United States; north to Fort Rae, Slave Lake; Greenland; south in winter to Central America and West Indies; Panama (Lawr.); Plateau of Mexico (breeds, Sumichrast); Veragua, Chiriqui (Salvin). Not found at Cape St. Lucas. South America?
In young birds, the frontal chestnut band is maller and less distinct.
It is still a question whether a South American resident species (H. erythrogaster) is identical or not. The only two specimens of the latter (21,007 and 21,008, Vermejo, Feb., 1860; C. Wood) have a very much less violaceous upper plumage than North American examples, the blue above having even a greenish tinge. They are moulting, unfortunately, so that they cannot be satisfactorily compared; except in the respect pointed out, however, they appear to be identical with North American examples.
The European H. rustica is perfectly distinct, though closely allied. It differs essentially from the American H. horreorum in much longer outer tail-feathers, and in having a very broad, continuous collar of steel-blue across the jugulum, entirely isolating the chestnut of the throat; the abdomen appears to be much more whitish than in the American species.
Many specimens of H. horreorum show a continuous collar, but then the two lateral crescents are but just barely connected. In No. 2,191 ♀, Carlisle, Penn., May, there is an indication of as broad a collar as in the European species; but the area, though sharply bounded, is not uniformly black, being much mixed centrally with light rufous.
Specimens of H. horreorum from both coasts of North America appear to be perfectly identical.
Habits. No one of all our North American birds is more widely diffused, more generally abundant, wherever found, or better known, than the graceful and familiar Barn Swallow. And no one is more universally or more deservedly a favorite. Found throughout North America from Florida to Greenland and from ocean to ocean, and breeding nearly throughout the same wide extent, its distribution is universal. Venturing with a confiding trust into our crowded cities, and building their elaborate nests in the porches of the dwellings, as well as entering in greater numbers the barns and farm-buildings of the agriculturists and placing themselves under the protection of man, they rarely fail to win for themselves the interest and good-will they so well deserve. Innocent and blameless in their lives, there is no evil blended with the many benefits they confer on man. They are his ever-constant benefactor and friend, and are never known, even indirectly, to do him any injury. For their daily food, and for that of their offspring, they destroy the insects that annoy his cattle, injure his fruit-trees, sting his fruit, or molest his person. Social, affectionate, and kind in their intercourse with each other; faithful and devoted in the discharge of their conjugal and parental duties; exemplary, watchful, and tender alike to their own family and to all their race; sympathizing and benevolent when their fellows are in any trouble,—these lovely and beautiful birds are bright examples to all, in their blameless and useful lives.
This Swallow passes the winter months in Central and South America as far south as Brazil and Paraguay, and the West Indies, and is found throughout the year in the Plateau of Mexico. It appears in the Southern States in March, and in the Central States early in April. In the latter part of this month it reaches New York and New England, becoming abundant near Boston about the first of May. Sir John Richardson found them breeding as far north as latitude 67° 30′. They reached Fort Chippewyan, latitude 57°, as early as the 15th of May, taking possession of their nests. It has been found throughout Canada and in all the British Provinces, has been met with in New Mexico, and is common in certain portions of Texas and the Indian Territory. Dr. Cooper states it to be less abundant on the Pacific than on the Eastern coast,—a fact attributable to the lack of suitable places in which to build. As settlements have multiplied, these birds have gradually increased about farms near the coast. In the wild districts they build in the caves that abound in the bluffs along the sea-shore from San Domingo to Columbia River. Dr. Suckley found them also moderately abundant about the basaltic cliffs, near Fort Dalles, Oregon. They are much more abundant about the coast than farther inland.
Mr. Ridgway found this Swallow a very common species in all the rocky localities in the vicinity of water, but not so numerous as the lunifrons.
In May it was particularly numerous in the neighborhood of Pyramid Lake, where its nests were built among the “tufa domes,” attached to the roofs of the caves. It was seldom that more than one or two pairs were found together.
In July he found a nest that contained young, in a cave among the limestone cliffs of the cañons of the East Humboldt Mountains, at an altitude of about eight thousand feet. Many of their nests were found in May, in the caves of the tufa rocks, on the shores of Pyramid Lake, as well as on the islands in the lake.
Mr. Hepburn writes that he found this Swallow widely diffused along the Pacific coast, as far to the north as Sitka. In California he found it very local, common near the coast, rare inland. Its earliest appearance is March 26, the great bulk leave in August, and the last stragglers are gone before the last of September. They breed in caves and crevices of rocks, and also under the sides of the wooden bridges that span the gullies at San Francisco. Two broods are hatched in a year. The earliest egg was found on the 30th of April, but they are usually a fortnight later. The second laying is about the first of July, and no eggs were found later than the 4th of August. It is at all times quite common to find nests with fresh eggs close to others with half-grown young.
Mr. J. K. Lord publishes an interesting account of a visit made by a solitary pair of Barn Swallows to his party when encamped at Schyakwateen, in British Columbia. A small shanty, loosely built of poles, and tightly roofed, was in constant use as a blacksmith’s shop. Early one summer morning late in June, a pair of Swallows perched on the roof of this shed, without exhibiting the slightest fear of the noise made by the bellows or the showers of sparks that flew all around. Presently they entered the house and carefully examined the roof and its supporting poles, twittering to each other all the while in the most excited manner. At length the important question appeared to be settled, and the following day they commenced building on one of the poles immediately over the anvil. Though the hammer was constantly passing close to their structure, these birds kept steadily at their work. In about three days the rough outline of the nest had been constructed. Curious to see from whence they procured their materials, Mr. Lord tracked them to the stream where, on its edge, they worked up the clay and fine sand into a kind of mortar with their beaks. They worked incessantly, and in a few days their nest was finished, the mud walls having finally been warmly lined with soft dry grasses and the feathers and down of ducks and geese. This trustful pair seemed to know no fear. The narrator often stood on a log to watch them, with his face so near that their feathers frequently brushed against it as they toiled at their work. Soon the nest was completed. Five eggs were laid, which were never left once uncovered until they were hatched, the female sitting the greater part of the time. They were fed with great assiduity by the parents, and grew rapidly. In leaving the nest, two of the young birds fell to the ground, but were picked up by the blacksmith, and placed with the others on their roosting-place. A few days’ training taught them the use of their wings, and they soon after took their departure.