WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW. 159 



the bird is off the nest. The pure white eggs, some four or 

 five, are real gems of beauty. How bravely the parent 

 birds would defend their nest, describing their noisy circles 

 in near proximity, and, with a guttural shriek, diving so 

 closely at the head of the intruder, as to induce a speedy 

 retreat. The same stump would be occupied for a series of 

 years, the annual additions of lining giving considerable 

 depth to the nest in time. In New England this bird is now 

 said to build in "a Martin-box," or "rarely in the hole of a 

 tree." In New York it nests in holes about the walls of 

 brick or stone buildings — as an instance, in large numbers 

 in holes about the stone buildings of the Johnston Harvester 

 Works at Brockport. Here, too, it sometimes builds in the 

 holes of trees, and more or less in community. 



On the Mud Islands, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, I 

 saw the nests of this species on the ground under flat stones, 

 and in holes in the ground. They were elegantly lined 

 with the feathers of the Herring Gull and of the Eider 

 Duck, the feathers being so laid that the tips curled upward 

 and nearly concealed the eggs. 



Though these Swallows do not generally nest in commu- 

 nities, they often associate in large numbers in spring and 

 fall. What a spirited scene I witnessed about the middle of 

 last April, on one of the secluded ponds of Tonawanda 

 Swamp. The number gyrating above the glassy surface so 

 filled the air that their movements without contact with 

 each other seemed impossible. The air became darkened, 

 and was made resonant by the volume of their musical 

 twitterings. 



These Swallows leave us from the earlier half of Septem- 

 ber to middle of October, when they may be seen in great 

 numbers. Mr. Maynard, of Newtonville, Mass., says: " They 

 congregate upon the salt marshes during the latter part of 



