THE CLIFF OR EAVE SWALLOW 



Swallow Family — Hirundinidce 



Length: About 6 inches; one inch smaller than the barn swal- 

 low, and two inches smaller than the martin. 



General Appearance: A multi-colored swallow — a sort of 

 combination of barn swallow and martin, with areas 

 and patches of dark blue, chestnut, gray, and white, 

 and bright reddish-brawn upper tail-coverts, that dif- 

 ferentiate it from the other swallows. 



Male and Female: Forehead creamy white, head bluish-black; 

 throat and cheeks reddish-brown; a brownish ring 

 about the neck shading to gray; back bluish-black 

 streaked with white; breast gray with a wash of 

 brown, and a blue-black patch where the throat joins 

 the breast; wings and tail brownish; tail only slightly 

 forked. 



Note : A harsher, less musical note than that of the bam swal- 

 low and martin. 



Habitat: Meadows and marshes. These swallows formerly 

 nested in cliffs; now they build under eaves of build- 

 ings. 



Nests: Curiously shaped pouches of mud that make one think 

 of protuberant knot-holes, or of flasks made of skin. 

 The nests vary with the shape of the places to which 

 they are fastened. Eave swallows also nest in col- 

 onies. 



Range: North America. Breed from central Alaska and north- 

 central Canada over nearly all the United States ex- 

 cept Florida and the Rio Grande Valley. They 

 probably winter in Brazil and Argentina. 



MR. FORBUSH writes about the Cliff or Eave Swal- 

 low as follows: 



[177] 



