470 BULLETIN 179, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



served as a back for the nest. Johnson states : "The season was a very 

 wet, rainy one which accounts for the change from eaves outside, 

 where they usually built." McCann (1936) found cliff and barn swal- 

 lows nesting together, one nest of the cliff swallow was within 12 

 inches of a barn swallow's nest. Goodsell (1919) also noted cliff and 

 barn swallows nesting together using old foundations of one another's 

 nests. Whittle (1922) describes an interesting case in which a cliff 

 swallow utilized a robin's nest built on two telephone wires entering 

 a building. The nest of the swallow was not in contact with the build- 

 ing but merely began at the rim and domed over the old robin's nest. 

 At Frenchman's River, Canada, Potter (1932) discovered that cliff 

 swallows had taken possession of the interior of an old freight car. 



Not only do these birds select sites on the outside and inside of 

 buildings and various structures but they may also nest underneath 

 them. An enormous colony of cliff swallows nested on the piling under 

 an old building at the edge of the water at Clear Lake, Calif. Kobbe 

 (1900) found many cliff swallows nesting in caves on the ocean side 

 of Cape Disappointment, Wash. Dice (1918) found the nests in a 

 road tunnel under the railroad tracks near Lamor, Wash. Townsend 

 (1917) states that cliff swallows have been known to breed in the aban- 

 doned burrows of bank swallows, and Carpenter (1918) found several 

 cases of typical bottleneck mud nests built over entrances to old rooms 

 of bank swallows at Oceanside, Calif. In one instance the eggs of the 

 cliff swallow were found at the end of a 2-foot tunnel lying in a typical 

 seaweed nest of the bank swallow. 



The cliff swallow has also proved its great versatility in coping 

 with unusual situations. Hales (1904) tells of an attempt of cliff 

 swallows to build under the eaves of a barn where there was no pro- 

 jecting object to serve as a foundation for a nest, which resulted in 

 i-epeated failures. One resourceful pair took advantage of a weather- 

 strip over a door and built an enormous cylinder tube, which they 

 filled with straw to a height of 18 inches, allowing just enough room 

 for a beautifully shaped nest at the top. The birds were awarded 

 success in bringing forth their brood of young. The following two 

 instances further illustrate how the cliff swallow is able to meet with 

 unusual conditions. Reed (1927) relates a case of a cliff swallow's nest 

 built over a back door of a home where there was a constant traffic of 

 persons and a slamming of the screen door. After the young had 

 hatched the nest cnunbled and fell with the young to the floor. The 

 young were placed in a strawberry box hung up where the nest had 

 been plastered. The adult birds at once proceeded to cover the box 

 with mud to protect and conceal the young, which were successfully 

 reared. The following year the pair returned and repaired the straw- 

 berry basket, but after an egg was mysteriously destroyed they made 



