SWALLOWS 81 



sometimes for an hour or more, till, quite dis- 

 tracted, puss withdraws to seek easier game. 

 Now and then when they venture a bit too close, 

 she is able to strike one, and alas! our inhab- 

 itants of the barn are one less. Only a few times, 

 however, have I witnessed this outcome to their 

 teasing. 



The nest of this Swallow is built of clay and 

 lined with feathers. The eggs are white with 

 rather large spots of brown. They range in 

 summer as far north as Greenland and winter 

 in South America. They arrive in the vicinity 

 of New York City the latter part of April. The 

 length of this bird is about seven inches. 



Eave Swallow. Another dweller about the 

 farm buildings is the Eave Swallow, and he also 

 takes his name from his nest-building habit. 

 Not in the old barn, but under its wide eaves, 

 they build their clay houses. 



When the May showers make mud-puddles 

 in the road, this little mason becomes very busy, 

 rolling up pellets of clay and transporting them 

 to his nest site. As they usually build in colonies, 

 often of a dozen or more pairs, the scene is an ani- 

 mated one, for the work must be hurried while the 

 material is ready. Our neighbor's barn has had 

 a colony of eave dwellers for many years and 

 they have been the source of much amusement 

 to the many observers. 



Frequently there are as many as twenty of 

 these tenements in one cluster; again not more 

 than four or five; sometimes a solitary nest is 

 built. These nests are rather fragile and need 

 constant repair. Now and then the whole 



