SWALLOWS. 143 



Above, a dark, lustrous steel blue. An imperfect collar, the 

 same. Under parts and forehead, chestnut red. Belly and 

 lower breast, paler. Tail forficate. Outer feathers much 

 longer than the others (from ^-2 inches), and all, except the 

 middle pair, with a white spot. 



h. The nest is placed on the beams or rafters of a barn or 

 similar building, and usually is finished here by the middle of 

 May. A set of four or five eggs is then laid, and often another 

 in June, or even in the early part of July. The eggs average 

 .75 X .55 of an inch, and are white, sprinkled tolerably thickly 

 with purplish and brown. 



c. The Barn Swallows are to be found almost throughout 

 New England. They reach the neighborhood of Boston gen- 

 erally in the last week of April, but sometimes earlier, and 

 return to the South in the first week of September. They 

 are usually very common in those places where they are 

 found, since they are almost invariably more or less colonial. 

 They are particularly abundant in old country villages, and 

 about farms, where most of the barns, on account of their 

 liberal size, afford them, among cobwebbed rafters, plenty of 

 suitable nesting-places. I shall sketch the habits of these 

 birds by considering their manner of life, through its various 

 stages. 



The Barn Swallows, when young, are constantly supplied 

 with food by their parents, until they are able to take short 

 flights in the barns, from beam to beam. Later, they venture 

 from these buildings, but are obliged to be at rest much of the 

 time, and still to be fed by their parents. As they become 

 more accustomed to the exercise of their wings, they fly more 

 boldly, procure much or all of their own food, and are by the 

 first of September strong enough to bear the fatigue of their 

 long migratory flights to the South. On their return in the 

 spring, they are capable of remaining on the wing through at 

 least fifteen hours of the twenty-four. Their manner of flight 

 is rapid and graceful, and so interesting as well to repay close 

 attention. They rarely fly far near the ground, nor do they 

 reach such a height as some other species. They prefer tele- 

 graph wires to other perches, and on these, long rows of them 



