CLIFF SWALLOW. 139 



I am quite sure these swallows dig a hole in the 

 solid tree, a feat their soft beaks appear hardly 

 fitted for, inasmuch as I saw one begun and 

 finished at the Sumass prairie, where great 

 numbers of swallows annually resort to build, 

 finding there an abundance of the favourite soft 



e> 



willow- wood. 



CLIFF SWALLOW (Hirundo lunifrons, Say). 

 I never saw this bird on the west side of the 

 Cascades, but it is very abundant between the 

 Cascades and Rocky Mountains. Arrives at 

 Colville in May and June, in immense flocks. On 

 arriving they at once fix on some steep rock with 

 an exposed surface ; days and days are spent in 

 whirling round and round this intended building - 

 site, chattering, and clearly having warm and 

 angry debates, about the summer labour; they at 

 last adjust all preliminary arrangements, then 

 set to work in earnest. 



Cliff-swallows are the most sociable of birds, and 

 work together in hundreds, side by side, on Very 

 amicable terms. The nests are made of mud ; in 

 shape like a retort, with long narrow neck like a 

 chimney, which the birds creep through to reach 

 the globular nest ; this neck is artfully bent, to 

 prevent the eggs or young from falling out. A 

 form of nest clearly designed to prevent the ac- 



