States, four of which have abandoned to sonic extent their primitive nesting 

 habits and have attached themselves to the abodes of man. 



In the eastern part of the country the barn swallow now builds exclusively 

 under roofs, having entirely abandoned the rock caves and cliffs in which it 

 formerlv nested. More recently the cliff swallow has found a better nesting 

 site under the eaves of buildings than was afTorded by the overhanging clifls 

 of earth or stone which it once used and to which it still resorts occasionally in 

 the East and habitually in the unsettled West. The martin and white-bellied, or 

 tree, swallow nest either in iiouses supplied for the purpose, in abandoned nests 

 of woodpeckers, or in natural crannies in rocks. The northern violet-green swal- 

 low, the rough-winged swallow, and the bank swallow still live in practically 

 such places as their ancestors chose. 



Field observation convinces an ordinarily attentive person that the food of 

 swallows must consist of the smaller insects captured in mid-air or picked from 

 the tops of tall grass or weeds. This observation is borne out by an examination 

 of stomachs, which shows that the food is made up of many small species of 

 beetles which are much on the wing; many species of mosquitoes and their 

 allies, together with large quantities of flying ants; and a few insects of similar 

 kinds. Most of these are either injurious or annoying, and the numbers destroyed 

 by swallows are not only beyond calculation but almost beyond imagination. 



Unlike many other groups of birds, the six species of swallows found in the 

 Eastern States extend in a practically unchanged form across the continent, 

 where they are reinforced by the northern, or Pacific coast, violet-green swallow. 



It is a mistake to tear down from the eaves of a barn the nest of a colony of 

 cliff swallows, for so far from disfiguring a building they make a picturesque 

 addition to it, and the presence of swallows should be encouraged by every 

 device. It is said that cliff and barn swallows may be induced to build their 

 nests in a particular locality, otherwise suitable, by providing a quantity of 

 mud to be used by them as mortar. Barn swallows may also be encouraged by 

 cutting a small hole in the gable of the barn, while martins and white-bellied 

 swallows will be grateful for boxes like those for the bluebird, but placed in a 

 higher situation. 



S17 



