214 SWALLOWS. 



The Barn Swallow is tlie most generally distributed 

 of our Swallows, its habits of nesting in out])uildings 

 Barn Swallow, i^^^lving it at honie wherever thej offer 

 CheUdon it a suitable nesting place. It is about 



erythrogadtr. seven inclies loug ; the upper parts and 

 loutu^piece.y giJes of the breast are steel-blue, the 

 forehead and throat chestnut, the rest of the under parts 

 paler ; the tail deeply forked and marked with white. Its 

 long tail is a most efficient rudder, permitting the alu-upt 

 turns which make its flight more erratic than that of any 

 other of our Swallows. It skims low over the fields, or 

 darts through the village streets with a rapidity and indi- 

 rectness which I never witness without astonishment. 



The Barn Swallow arrives from its winter home in 

 the tropics about April 15 and remains until late in 

 September. Its nest is generally placed on a beam in 

 a barn or other outbuilding, and is composed of mud 

 and grasses lined with feathers. 



The Clilf or Eave Swallow is less generally distributed 



than the Barn Swallow. It nests in colonies, placing its 



^,.^„ „ rows of mud tenements under cliffs in 



Chff Swallow, , ^Tx 1 . 11 



FttrocTididGii fli^ >v est and beneath the eaves oi barns 



lunifrons. in the East. It becomes much attached 

 (Frontispiece.) ^^ ^^^^ locahty, and when undisturbed 

 returns to it year after year, arriving from the South 

 about May 1, and remaining until late September. It is 

 six inches long ; the forehead is whitish, the crown and 

 back steel-blue, the rump rusty ; the throat chestnut with 

 a blackish area ; the belly white. 



Like the Cliff Swallow, the Bank Swallow nests in 



colonies, and is very local during the breeding season. A 



Bank Swallow sandbank facing a stream or pond is 



Clivicola riparia. oftCU cllOSeU for a llOmC. lutO it a 



(Frontispiece.) tunucl two or three feet in length is 

 bored, and at its end a nest of grasses and feathers is built. 



