120 TRANSACTIONS OP THE [1891 



in numbers according to the season. During March and April 

 it is not abundant, but may be met with occasionally. Through- 

 out May, and even in June, it collects in flocks in localities 

 suited to its wants, and always frequents woods in preference to 

 shrubs and bushes, and in the fall feeds on diflPerent kinds of 

 berries. The bird breeds late, as may be inferred from its keep- 

 ing in flocks so late in the season. It has no song, nor does it 

 give forth any peculiar notes. The nest is rather large for the 

 size of the bird, is not at all neat looking, is almost entirely con- 

 structed of dry stalks of grasses, sometimes of poa, and is 

 usually placed on an apple or other tree in the orchard. Rootlets 

 and stalks of small plants which are common in yards and 

 orchards, such as plantago, are also used in the construction of 

 the nest. The eggs are three or four in number, of a bluish- 

 gray ground color, thickly specked with small and smaller brown 

 dots near and around the larger end, near the middle marked 

 with some irregular, dark purplish- brown blotches, which are 

 sometimes confluent, while around the smaller end there are only 

 a few small dots. Besides these, the eggs have some irregular 

 smaller spots of pale purple between the dark spots. One nest 

 containing three eggs was obtained in the second week of July. 

 Whether these belonged to a second brood or to a retarded first 

 brood, we are not able to state. 



Chelidon erythrogaster (Bodd). Barn Swallow. 



This swallow, like the rest of its tribe, is one of the earliest 

 birds to arrive from the South, reaching this vicinity about the 

 first of April, at which time it is liable to be overtaken by cold 

 and snow. Coming as it does, in large numbers, it is well 

 known and liked by every one. Its habits are so familiar that 

 it is unnecessary to make extended remarks upon that subject. 

 As is well known, it breeds in barns and similar buildings. The 

 cup-shaped nest is composed mainly of mud, and is fastened by 

 one side to boards and planks of the diiFerent buildings. Toward 

 the close of August it begins to collect in large numbers, which 

 are continually increasing, and about the twentieth of September 

 it departs for the South. 



