'550 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



This probably is our most abundant and uniformily distributed swallow, 

 although perhaps not as well known as the Barn Swallow. It is the earliest 

 of our swallows to arrive from 

 the south and the last to leave 

 in the fall. Not infrequently 

 considerable numbers arrive late 

 in March, and flocks are almost ^e 

 invariably seen in October, often 

 quite late in the month. Mr, 

 Swales recorded a few unusually 

 early birds near Detroit March 

 27, 1901, and has seen them in 

 the same vicinity as late as 

 October 18, 1890. Mr. L. 

 Whitney Watkins recorded them ^^ 

 as still present in flocks at 

 Manchester, Washtenaw county, ^ ^ . , ^ ^*^- ^^s. Tree Swallow 



^ , , -V. -,r^r,< /-v 1- M From Baird, Brewer &Ridgways North American Birds, 

 on October 24, 1904. Ordjnardy Little, Brown & Co. 



it appears in the southern tier 



of counties from the 1st to the 15th of April and reaches the Upper Peninsula 

 before the end of the month. Both in spring and fall it moves commonly 

 in large flocks and especially in the fall these reach an immense size, num- 

 bering at least several thousand individuals. 



The White-bellied Swallow is found all over the state and doubtless 

 nests in favorable places in every county, but rather less plentifully in the 

 southern part of the state. Before the settlement of the country it probably 

 nested altogether in woodpeckers' holes and hollow stumps, and it still 

 uses such places very freely, this fact giving rise to the names Tree Swallow 

 and Stump Swallow. But it also nests freely in boxes prepared for it, 

 and often uses cavities about the eaves and cornices of buildings, which 

 has given the name Eave Swallow in many localities. The nest rarely 

 if ever contains mud in its composition, but is built of grasses, leaves, and 

 similar fibrous materials, and plentifully lined with feathers, and according 

 to several observers a decided preference for white feathers is shown. 

 The eggs are three to six, pure white, unspotted, and average .75 by .52 

 inches. Two broods are often reared in a season, the first eggs being- 

 laid early in May in the southern part of the state, and the second set late 

 in June. 



As with other swallows the food consists almost entirely of winged insects 

 and the bird is decidedly beneficial to the farmer. Often on its first arrival 

 in spring it would seem impossible that it could find suffi- 

 cient insects to keep it alive, but we have seen it repeat- ' '^^^^k^. 

 edly catching stone-flies (Perlidoe) when the mercury was -^^^y^ 



only two or three degrees above freezing, and during these ^^.^ ^^^^ 



cold spells it is often seen to pick insects from the surface Head of Tree"swaiiow. 

 of the snow, or from twigs, fences and sides of buildings. 

 It winters regularly in the south, in immense numbers, and one of its staple 

 foods there is the berries of the wax-myrtle or bayberry (Myrica), with 

 which its stomach is often found crammed. In spite of its hardiness it 

 is frequently overtaken by cold waves and heavy storms and sometimes 

 perishes in vast numbers. Such a catastrophe overtook the species in 

 Florida in February 1895, when doubtless hundreds of thousands perished. 

 This will be remcm]:)erod as the season which destroyed such a largo part 



