THE EAVE SWALLOW. 357 



will contend for his premises with those of his own kind, 

 is familiar to all who know him. 



The eggs of this species, some half-dozen or upward, 

 about .60X.48, are a delicate flesh color, very finely specked 

 and sprayed all over with reddish-brown, thickening into a 

 wreath or large spot at the large end. 



About five inches long, this Wren is deep brown, crossed 

 with bars of black above, the head and neck being plain; 

 the throat and breast are buff, or a light clay color; belly 

 and vent white, spotted with brown and black; the tail, 

 which is much longer than that of the Winter Wren— about 

 two inches — is brown, crossed with lines of black; the feet 

 are flesh color. 



Wintering in the Southern States, this species ranges 

 throughout the Eastern States, west to Nebraska and Da- 

 kota, and north somewhat into the British Provinces, 

 becoming rare already in Northern New England. 



THE EAVE SWALLOW. 



As I look up into the cloudless sky I am impressed with 

 its great depth and transparency. If I believed in the old 

 Ptolemaic theory of separate crystalline spheres, or hollow 

 globes, in which the various planets, including the sun and the 

 fixed stars as a system, were severally set, each sphere revolv- 

 ing with its own velocity, I should think that some mystic 

 power in the air had been very thoroughly at work, and had 

 newly cleansed and polished these transparent spheres 

 throughout. Against this clear deep, multitudes of Eave 

 or Cliff Swallows {Petrochelidon liinifrons) are describing 

 their elegant flight. This species, and the family it repre- 

 sents, are in the strictest sense ''birds of the air," since 

 they spend nearly all their time in that region. Their small 

 weak feet, long pointed wings and great nervous 



