BARN SWALLOW 449 



The parents eat the fecal sacks for the first few days, but later they 

 carry them away until the young are about 12 days old, when the 

 young are able to turn around and void their droppings over the 

 edge of the nest. 



Among the developments observed by Mr. Smith (1933) "was the 

 opening of the eyes, a gradual process, beginning on the 5th day 

 and being completed on the 8th. The use of the wings progressed 

 from their being fluttered on the 9th day to short flights when re- 

 moved from the nest on the 15th, although even on the latter date 

 dependence was still largely placed upon crawling and hiding as a 

 means of escape. Fear first became manifest at nine days of age, 

 when, at the alarm note of a parent the young would retreat from 

 the rim of the nest and crouch down in the bottom." 



As the plumage begins to grow, the young swallows become more 

 active, wagging their heads about and hanging them out over the 

 edge of the nest, as if in imminent danger of falling, though few 

 such accidents occur. When about 15 days old they begin active 

 preening, scraping off the scales of the feather sheaths. At length 

 the time comes for them to leave the nest; the parents urge them to 

 do so by refusing to feed them in the nest and by flying back and 

 forth near the nest, enticing them to leave. After leaving the nest 

 they remain in the vicinity for several days, returning to the nest 

 each night. 



Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1920c) writes of some 3^oung birds 

 that he watched : "At times they rested in trees and were fed by the 

 parents, sometimes they were fed in mid-air, but doubtless they did 

 some insect catching on their own hook. At six o'clock they were 

 all back in the nest and being fed by the parents. For four more 

 days this was repeated. The young left in the morning but returned 

 to the nest at night, generally going and coming together. On the 

 fifth night only two returned and after that they occupied the nest 

 no more. I imagined I saw the family party several times, how- 

 ever, as a group of six or seven barn swallows flew past, and occa- 

 sionally they would fly around under the porch, the adults pouring 

 forth their souls in song." 



Plumages. — The young nestling is scantily covered with "smoke 

 gray," or darker, natal down on the forehead, occiput, scapular re- 

 gion, and middle of the back; this down persists later on the tips of 

 the Juvenal plumage and has not wholly disappeared on the head 

 when the birds leave the nest. 



The Juvenal plumage is much like that of the adult but is duller 

 and paler. The sexes are alike. The upper parts are dull iridescent 

 green, more brownish on the crown, with reddish brown edgings on 

 the nape, rump, and wing coverts; the under parts are pale cinnamon, 

 tinged with russet on the throat, with an incomplete dusky or black 



