SWALLOWS 



87 



is to thf European Swallow, l)ut that bird 

 is very similar in its habits to the American Barn 

 Swallow and has about the same hold on the 

 affections of the ])eople — especially the country 

 people. Like many another poet's, liowever, 

 good old Franz's ornithology was a bit unscien- 

 tific, as is shown by the idea he expressed that 

 the Swallows go " home " when they go to south- 

 land at the approach of winter. As a matter of 

 fact, this misapprehension is not confined to the 

 poets. Vet, a little reflection should make it 

 clear that the " home " of a bird is obviously its 

 nest, and that the home locality is the locality 

 in which it builds its nest and rears its young. 

 W'hatever mav be the reason for the southern 

 migration in the autumn ( and there are various 

 explanations of that movement), the bird which 

 breeds in the north is no more going " home " 

 when it goes south than a man who lives in 

 New York goes home when he goes to Palm 

 Beach, Florida, for the winter. 



The Barn Swallow's habit of building within 

 barns, or on sheltered projections from any 

 structure, has made it perhaps the most domesti- 

 cated of any of the wild birds. Indeed, under 

 these conditions this Swallow soon comes to 

 occupy a position which seems only a short re- 

 move from that of the barnyard fowls ; and its 

 twittering as it skims to and fro from its nest, 

 becomes as familiar as is the clucking of the 

 hens, or the challenge of their lord and master, 

 the rooster — and is certainly a great deal more 

 melodious than either. Furthermore, the bird's 

 habit of using barns as building sites has much 

 inherent interest and significance, in that it rep- 

 resents a deliberate departure from its natural 

 instinct to build in caves and under ledges, where 

 it had made its home until man arrived upon the 

 scene and furnished better protection from the 

 elements and from the bird's natural enemies. 

 A similar example of adaptiveness is furnished 

 by the Cliff Swallow and the Chimney Swift, 

 and doubtless all these birds were prompted to 

 adopt the new nesting sites partly by the supply 

 of insects, which of course is greater about barn- 

 yards than in the birds' natural habitats. 



In a leaflet on the Barn Swallow, prepared for 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies, 

 Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright discusses the lam- 

 entable diminution of the bird's numbers as fol- 

 lows : " ^^'e associate the Swallow with comfort- 

 able old-fashioned barns, which had open rafters, 

 doors that could not be shut tight, and windows 

 with many panes lacking. \\'ithin such build- 

 ings, almost as easy to get into and out of as 

 were the caves and broken crates to which thev 



resorted before barns were built, the Barn Swal- 

 lows used to nest, sometimes in large colonies, 

 while their cousins, the Cliff Swallows, had 

 quarters beneath the outside eaves in a line of 

 gourd-shaped tenements. 



" Nowadays, however, in the more thickly set- 

 tled and prosperous parts of the coimtry, these 

 looselv built old barns have given place to tightly 

 constructed, neatly painted ones ; thus, as the 

 new replaces the old in their haunts, many a pair 

 of Swallows drop from their sky-high wooing 

 to find closed doors and tight roofs staring them 

 in the face. So they move on. \Miither? Out 

 to the frontiers or into the ' hack counties.' This 



Photo by .\. A. .Mk-n 



BARN SWALLOW 



Poised at its nest under the gable of a barn. Photographed by 

 Ught reflected from a mirror 



accounts, in part, for what seems to be rather 

 than is a decrease ; but there is a constant and 

 real loss of Barn Swallows, according to reports 

 from all parts of the country, chargeable to the 

 English Sparrows. These little bandits seem to 

 have a special fondness for despoiling the nests 

 of Swallows of all kinds, tearing them to pieces 

 — perhaps for the sake of the feathers and 

 other good materials for Sparrow-use — and dis- 

 turbing their owners until the harassed Swal- 

 lows finally abandon the premises. This is an 

 extensive evil ; and it can be prevented only 

 by our taking the trouble to protect our Swallows 

 against their feathered enemies. Cats also catch 

 many Swallows, snatching them out of the air as 

 they skim close to the ground in pursuit of grass- 

 moths and similar low-flying insects. Rats and 

 mice devour their eggs and young to some extent. 

 "A third and sadder reason why fewer Barn 

 Swallows are now to lie seen in a day's drive 

 through the countrv than used to delight the 

 eves of bird-lovers, is that for several vears thev 



