418 Birds of Colorado 



Pueblo (Beckham), Springfield, Baca co. (Warren), Twin Lakes breeding 

 (Scott), Fort Garland (Henshaw), Routt co. (Warren 08), Mesa co. 

 (Rockwell), Fort Lewis and Cortez (Oilman). 



Habits. — The habits of the Barn-Swallow have been 

 modified by civihzed man. Formerly no doubt they 

 bred in caves and crannies in cliif faces, as indeed is 

 described by Dawson (" Auk " XIV., p. 95), who found this 

 species in its natural condition on the shores of Lake 

 Chelan in Washington. Now they make use of buildings 

 or bridges, to which they affix their nests ; these are 

 usually in the shape of a half -cup, and are built up of 

 mud pellets, often held together with small sticks or 

 straws, with an inside hning of feathers and hair. The 

 eggs, usually four in number, are laid in June, and a 

 second brood is raised later on in the middle of July 

 or early in August. This SwaUow is very constant to 

 its chosen nesting-place ; Smith (93) related that a pair 

 which he beheved to be the same birds returned to his 

 barn in Denver for fifteen successive years, and raised, 

 when not disturbed, two broods each year. A clutch 

 of four eggs taken by I. C. Hall on June 1st, near Greeley, 

 are white, spotted fairly evenly but not very profusely 

 with reddish-brown, and average "8 x *55. 



Genus IRIDOPROCNE. 



Swallows of moderate size, wing under 5-0 — with rather slender 

 bills and narrow, elongated nostrils overhmig by an operculum ; tail 

 rather short, less than half the wing and forked for about a quarter 

 of its length ; lateral toes long, the claws reaching quite to the base 

 of the middle claw. Sexes alike ; eggs white. 



This genus, ranging over the continental portions of temperate and 

 tropical America, comprises five species, only one of which occurs in 

 the United States. 



Tree-Swallow. Iridoprocne hicolor. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 614— Colorado Records— Allen 72, pp. 156, 

 162 ; Henshaw 75, p. 217 ; Scott 79, p. 93 ; Drew 81, pp. 88, 115; 85, 



