THE TREE SWALLOW. 345 



ters n:ight induce it lo become a permanent resident of the Puget Sound 

 country, and it is not certain that it has not ah^eady done so in some in- 

 stances. It often reaches Seattle during the first week in March; while it 

 was simultaneously observed at Tacoma (Bowles), and Bellingham (Edson) 

 on the 24th day of Februar\', 1905. In 1906 Mr. L. R. Reynolds reported 

 seeing it in numbers on the Skagit marshes near Fir, on the 1st of February; 

 and Dr. Clinton T. Cooke, looking from his office window in the Alaska 

 Building, saw a large specimen, apparently an adult male, soaring about over 

 the Grand Opera House, in Seattle, on the 21st day of Januarv. 



The Tree Swallow is a lover of the water and is seldom to be found 

 at a great distance from it. It is close to the surface of ponds and lakes 

 that the earliest insects are to be found in spring, and it is here that the 

 bird may maintain the spotlessness of its plumage by frequent dips. Hence 

 a favorite nesting site for these birds is one of the partiallv submerged forests 

 which are so characteristic of western Washington lakes. The birds are not 

 themselves able to make excavations in the wood, but they have no difficulty 

 in possessing themselves of the results of other birds' labors. Old holes will 

 do if not too old, but I once knew a pair of these Swallows to drive away a 

 pair of Northwest Flickers from a brand new nesting-hole, on the banks of 

 Lake LTnion, and to occupy it themselves. 



The nesting cavity is copiously lined with dead grass antl feathers : and 

 sometime during the last week of May from four to six white eggs are 

 deposited. The female sits very closelv and it is sometimes necessary to 

 remove her by hand in order to examine the nest. Both parents are very 

 solicitous on such occasions, and should a feather from the nest be tossed 

 into the air, one of them will at once catch it and fly about awaiting a chance 

 to replace it. Or if there are other Swallows about, some neighbor will 

 snatch it first and make off with it to add to her own collection. 



Tree Sw^allows are slowly availing tliemselves of artificial nesting sites. 

 In fact, several species of our birds ha\-e become quite civilized, so that 

 nowadays no carefullv constructed and quietly situated bird-bo.x need be 

 without its spring tenant. A pair once built their nest in a sort of tower 

 attic, just inside a hole which a Flicker had pierced in the ceiling of an 

 open belfry of a country church in Yakima. When in service the mouth 

 of the swinging bell came within two feet of the brooding bird. One would 

 suppose that the Swallows would have been crazed with fright to find 

 themselves in the midst of such a tumult of sound ; but their enterprise 

 fared successfully, as I can testify, for at the proper time I saw the 

 youngsters ranged in a happ\-, twittering row along the upper rim of the 

 bell-wheel. 



