ORNITHOLOGY 



^7 



merit might indicate that it was a sec- 

 ond set irom this pair of birds. 



Another late nesting date was on the 

 sixteenth of August, when several barn 

 swallows' nests containing young were 

 noted at Newport, Rhode Island, these 

 being elsewhere referred to in another 

 article. Along the Newport cliffs young 

 tern-- were also observed on this date, 

 which would indicate a much later nest- 

 ing period than is usual for this species. 



Barn Swallows Nesting on the Cliffs. 

 It is well known that many birds have 

 of necessity gradually changed their 

 nesting habits with the advance of civ- 

 ilization, owing to the encroachment 

 upon their native haunts which always 

 accompanies this advance. Those which 

 have not been able to adapt themselves 

 to these new conditions have always 

 suffered the consequences and faced 

 serious depletion in their numbers, if 

 not extermination. Many species seem 

 to be undergoing these changes at the 

 present time, and thus, according to 



show considerable 

 individual 



nesting 



their environment, 

 variation in their 

 habits. 



Phoebes and robins we find readily 

 accepting these changed conditions and 

 adapting themselves comfortably to the 

 various nesting sites offered about our 

 buildings, although these may still be 

 found breeding in equal numbers in the 

 woods. The cliff swallow — an original 

 cliff dweller — is now known much more 

 commonly as the "eave sw T allow" owing 

 to its habit of plastering in rows be- 

 neath the eaves of old barns its tubular 

 clay nests ; nighthawks breed with 

 equal composure on the flat, gravel 

 roofs of our city buildings or on a bare 

 rock on the ground in the woods ; and 

 we find bluebirds, flickers and wrens at 

 once accepting our proffered nesting 

 boxes when we set them up in suitable 

 locations about our dwellings. 



The species mentioned are birds 

 which seem to be undergoing these 

 changes and apparently keeping pace 

 with the times, while others have so 

 long changed their habits that we know 

 little of their former customs, and in- 

 stances where we find them nesting in 

 the old way appear to us strange and 

 unusual. Chimney swifts, birds which 

 once dwelt in hollow trees in the woods, 

 are now common birds of town and 



city, and seem to find in our brick chim- 

 neys a satisfactory substitute for their 

 ancient wilderness abode; purple mar- 

 tins apparently breed nowhere except 

 in the tenement houses which we erect 

 for them, while barn swallows have be- 



PURGATORY— A CHASM IN THE NEWPORT 

 CLIFFS. 



come so closely associated with our 

 farm life that they would now seem 

 out of place if we found them anywhere 

 else, and there seems to have been lit- 

 tle written concerning the nesting ha- 

 bits of these birds before they occupied 

 the rafters of our barns, where with 

 their cheerful twitterings, bright colors 

 and vivacious ways, they dart in and 

 out of the open doors or windows. 



There is, however, at least one place 

 in New England where barn swallows 

 are now nesting out of doors. Along 

 the cliffs at Middletown, Rhode Island, 

 just over the Newport line, is a great 

 chasm known as Purgatory ; our first 

 picture gives a good idea of its appear- 

 ance from the land side. This cleft 

 varies in width from five to six feet at 

 its narrow end near the shore to per- 

 haps fifteen feet at the widest part. It 

 is cut seventy feet deep through the 

 solid ledge, and at extremely low water 

 one might walk around the base of the 



