CLIFF SWALLOW. 'MiJ 



(iKNUs PKTllOCHKLTDON Cabams. 

 PKTROCHKLIDOX r.UNrPPvONS (Say.). 



■2U\. Cliff Swallow, m-2) 



Lustrous steel-l>lue ; foreheatl, whitish <ii- l)rii\vii : luinj). riit'ons ; chin, 

 throat ami si<les of head, chestnut; a steel-l)lu(j .sj^ot on the throat; tn-east, 

 sides and generally a cervical collar, i-usty-gray, whitening on the ln-lly. 

 Yoinifj : — Suftifiently siniilai'. Length, ."> ; wing, 4t ; tail, 2^. 



Hai;. — Xoith America at large, and .south \n i>razil and Paraguay. 



Nest, a tlask-shapcd Uuildiiig of imid. lineit with wool, feather.s and l)its 

 of stiaw. 



Eggs, four oi- tivc. white, spotted with redilisli-l)rown. 



Early in May, t!ic Cliff Swallow crosses tlie .southern bordei- of 

 Ontario, and gradually works its way up to the far north, hreeding 

 in colonios in suitable places all over the countr\-. In towns and 

 \illages, the nests are placed under the eaves of outhou.ses : in tlte 

 country, they are fastened under projecting ledges of I'ock and hard 

 embanknients. The bird.s ai-e of an amiable, sociable disposition, as 

 many as fifty families l)eing sometimes observed in a colcmv without 

 the slightest sign of (juarrelling. Two broods are raised in the 

 season, and by the enfl of August the}' begin to move off and are 

 seen no more till spring. They are somewhat fastidious in their 

 choice of a nesting place, and on this account are not equally 

 abundant at all points, but still they are very numerous throughout 

 the Province, passing along to the North-West, where Mr. Thompson 

 reports them as breeding abundantly in Manitoba. On the boun- 

 dary, at Pembina, Dr. Coues noticed them as the most abundant of 

 the family, and he traced them all along the line westward to the 

 Rockies. 



In .\laska, Mr. l)all states that he found the sj)ecies nesting at 

 Xullatii, "al)out the ti-ading stations, and was told by the natives 

 that it nested on the faces of the sandstone cliffs along the Yukon, 

 V)efore the advent of the white man placed at its disposal the con- 

 venient shekel- of the trading-post. The birds were quick to take 

 advantage of the hospitality offei-ed them, and to change from their 

 primiti\e nesting sites to civilized domiciles." 



