BARN SWALLOW 453 



dressed beneath it; sometimes one will scratch its head with its 

 foot; but for the most part they sit quietly, enjoying one another's 

 company and seldom quarreling unless the wires become overcrowded. 

 After the breeding season is over swallows become highly gregar- 

 ious, as indicated above, and gather in immense flocks to roost at 

 night in marshes or thickets of trees or bushes. W. E. Saunders 

 (1898) describes such a gathering in a thick stand of willows near 

 London, Ontario, as follows: 



Passing these on the evening of August 4th of this year, I was attracted by 

 the large number of Barn Swallows circling near it, which, as the night drew 

 on, became more and more numerous, until I judged there were about 5,000 

 birds, — almost all Barn Swallows — in the flock. They flew at random until 

 about 8 o'clock, only a few alighting in the roost before that time, but at 8.04 

 my note-book records them "falling like leaves," and by 8.05 half were settled. 

 Their manner of descent was both interesting and beautiful, especially of those 

 from the upper strata, for they were flying at all elevations from those just 

 skimming the ground, to those so far up that they could with difficulty be seen, 

 and these latter, in descending at an angle oL" only 20 degrees from the perpen- 

 dicular, performed the most beautiful aerial evolutions it has been my fortune to 

 witness. Setting their wings for the drop, they would waver from side to 

 side as they came, much as a leaf wavers, but of course with many times greater 

 speed. * * * 



Within five minutes of the time of the first general movement, barely a tenth 

 remained in the air, and their voices, which are so liquid and soft when heard 

 singly, became one of the harshest dins imaginable — English Sparrows could be 

 no worse — and it certainly sounded as if they were all talking at once. 



At 8.12 only a few are recorded as remaining, and at 8.19 the last one went in. 



Swallows have been seen at sea, far out from land, and may occa- 

 sionally be forced down ; they cannot swim, of course, but seem to be 

 able to rise from the surface. Dr. Wood tells me that his son, Merrill 

 Wood, saw a young barn swallow alight on the water of Narragan- 

 sett Bay and, after a short rest, rise from the surface and fly away. 



Voice. — Dr. Winsor M. Tyler contributes the following : "The notes 

 of the barn swallow always seem to express happiness, in keeping with 

 its joyous flashing across the sky. Kvik-kvUc, wit-imt, he says, in short, 

 delicate, but energetic syllables, as he doubles and turns and twists 

 through the air. When he shoots through the open doorway of the 

 barn to his nest, he greets his mate and young with a friendly kiviJc, 

 accented at the end — almost pronouncing the word, quick. Out of 

 doors again, either coursing along on the wing, or perched on roof 

 or wire, he entertains his family, or lets his irrepressible energy go, 

 with a long pleasing song of many jumbled, bubbling, rapid notes, 

 culminating with a queer, ecstatic trilling sound which Ralph 

 Hoffmann (1904) aptly terms 'a very curious rubbery note.' " 



To the above pleasing account might be added the tributes of many 

 other admirers. Dr. Townsend (1920c) writes: "To my mind the 



324726—42 30 



