BIRDS OF AMERICA 



CLIFF SWALLOW 

 Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons ( Say) 



Other Names. — Eave Swallow ; Jug Swallow ; Barn 

 Swallow ; Mud Swallow ; Republican Swallow ; Crescent 

 Swallow; Rocky Mountain Swallow; Moon-fronted 

 Swallow. 



General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper 

 parts, steel-blue; under parts, chestnut and whitish. 

 Bill, very short; tail, less than J< length of wing, 

 slightly notched. 



Color. — .'\di-lts : FovcJicad. dull i^'hitc. dull pale 

 ecru-drab or pale wood brown, forming a conspicuous 

 patch, very sharply defined at rear, its extremities 

 pointed; crown and back of head, glossy blue black; 

 hindneck, hair-brown or brownish-gray ; back and 

 shoulders, glossy blue-black, the former streaked with 

 pale gray or whitish; rump, light cinnauwn-rufous : 

 upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray or hair-brown with 

 paler margins ; wings and tail, dusky grayish-brown, the 

 secondaries with paler margins ; ear, eye, and cheek 

 regions, chin and throat,^ich chestnut ; a patch of some- 

 what glossy-black on lower throat; chest, sides, and 

 flanks, pale grayish-brown, the first usually tinged with 

 pale chestnut; rest of under parts, whitish; iris, brown. 

 Young : Much duller in color than adults ; crown, 



Sfc ("olor ri.nlc .S.*! 



bark, and shoulders, dull blackish or sooty ; forehead, 

 sometimes dull chestnut or brownish, more often dusky, 

 like crown ; sides of head and throat, mi.xed grayish- 

 brown, dusky, and dull chestnut. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : .\ cleverly constructed 

 retort-shaped structure, fastened to cliffs or under eaves 

 of outbuildings at its large end and extending hori- 

 zontally ; made of mud pellets mixed with straw and 

 lined with feathers. Eggs ; 3 to 5, speckled and spotted 

 with reddish-brown and lilac. 



Distribution. — Nearly the whole of North .A.merica ; 

 breeding north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Anti- 

 costi Island, Province of Quebec, in the interior to 

 Territory of Mackenzie and the Yukon Valley of 

 Alaska, and on the Pacific coast to British Columbia ; 

 breeding southward over nearly the whole of the 

 United States (except Rio Grande valley, at least above 

 mouth of the Pecos River) and coast district of north- 

 western Mexico, as far as Mazatlan and Tepic. In 

 winter, southward through Mexico and Central 

 .America, at least to Honduras. Said to occur in winter 

 in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and other parts of 

 South America. 



Tlie Cliff Swallow is a bird of large colonies. 

 Though distributed almost all over North 

 America it is entirely absent in the breeding 

 season from large areas. It was formerly sup- 

 posed that it bred only in the West and that 

 the advent of the Caucasian and his barns 

 temjited the Cliff Swallows eastward to become 

 Eave .Swallows. It is likelv that many places 

 in the western half of the continent have alwavs 



been the home of the largest colonies of Cliff' 

 .Swallows ; but the east and southeast have had 

 their scattered colonies of Cliff Swallows both 

 before and after the European settlements were 

 made along the .Atlantic .shore. 



The early explorers of the far West were much 

 impressed by the enormous collections of Cliff 

 Swallow mud bottle nests that were plastered 

 over the great perpendicular rocks in many 



CLIFF SWALLOW (i nat. size) 

 Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



