88 BIRDS OF AMERICA 



were killed by thousands to make ornaments for tion at the waste of bird-life for millinery that 



women's hats. This is the bird, in fact, which he wrote that vigorous editorial in 1886 which 



aroused in the mind of George Bird Grinnell, immediately led to the founding of the first 



then editor of Forest and Strcniii. such indigna- Audubon Society." Geokce Gladden. 



TREE SWALLOW 

 Iridoprocne bicolor ( Jlrillot) 



A. O. U. Number 1,14 See Color Plate 88 



Other Names. — White-breasted Swallow : Blue- 

 hacked Swallow ; White-bellied Swallow : Stump Swal- 

 low ; Eave Swallow. 



General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper 

 parts, greenish steel-blue : under parts, white. Bill, 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



TREE SWALLOW (', nat. 



A bird which 



small; tail, not more than '/2 length of wing, forked, 



but depth of notch usually less than 'j of its length, 



the side feathers broad to near tips where they sud- 

 denly contract, the tip rounded. 



Color. — .^DULT Male: Above, including sides of 

 liead and neck, and lesser wing-coverts, unifonn i/lossy 

 lirccnish stccl-bluc, varying to bluish-green; middle 

 W'ing-coverts dull black, broadly inargined with glossy 

 steel-blue or greenish; rest of wings, and tail, dusky, or 

 sooty-blackish, faintly glossed with greenish ; lores, 

 velvety-black ; cheek region and entire under parts, 

 pure 'ichite: iris, brown. Adult Fem.^le: Similar to 

 the male, and sometimes not distinguishable, but usually 

 duller in color, the upper parts less brightly steel-blue 

 or green, often dusky grayish-brown with only the tips 

 of the feathers glossy-blue or green ; the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts, sometimes uniform grayish-brown; 

 chest, often faintly shaded with brownish-gray. Young: 

 Above, including sides of head and neck, uniform soft 

 dark mouse-gray, the wing feathers margined at the 

 ends with brownish-white ; beneath, white, usually 

 shaded across chest with pale grayish-brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest : In dead tree trunks. Wood- 

 pecker holes, in the vicinity of water, or in boxes 

 erected for its use, made of grasses and feathers. 

 Eggs : 4 to 7, pure white. 



Distribution. — North .America in general ; north to 

 Alaska. Mackenzie, and Ungava ; breeding southward 

 to Virginia, Mississippi, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, 

 Nevada, and California; wintering from South Caro- 

 Hna (occasionally northward to New Jersey) and the 

 Gulf States southward to the Bahamas, Cuba (oc- 

 casional only?) and over greater part of Mexico to 

 highlands of Guatemala ; occasional in Bermudas ; acci- 

 dental in British Isles. 



The Tree, or White-bellied, Swallow is the first 

 of the Swallows to arrive from the south in the 

 spring and the last of the Swallows to leave in 

 the fall. Hardly has the frost gone out of the 

 ground before the first flight (chiefly adult 

 males) have come on in large numbers. A month 

 or six weeks later the females arrive. Then they 

 choose holes in trees for their nesting sites and 

 make themselves very noticeable with their pure 



white under parts. They may be commonly 

 seen all spring anywhere within a mile of their 

 nests. In the Far \\'est they are very common 

 in the willow tracts about the ponds and mar.shes 

 of southern California. 



The Tree Swallows do not readily mass to- 

 gether in breeding colonies. In fact they are 

 very jealous of their territory, engaging in fights 

 in the spring to determine which shall leave the 



