this typical nest down to plain mud platforms, 

 but are all warmly lined with grass and 

 feathers. In some localities, cliffs resemble 

 bee hives, they having thousands of these nests 

 side by side and in tiers. Their eggs are 

 creamy white spotted with reddish brown; 

 size .80 x .55 with great variations. Data. — 

 Rockford, Minn., June 12, 1890. Nest made 

 of mud, lined with feathers; placed under the 

 eaves of a freight house. 



[612.1.] Oban Cliff Swallow. Petro- 

 chelidon fulva. 



Range. — West Indies and Central America; 

 accidental on Florida Keys. 



PERCHING BIRDS 

 "73 



Hirundo erythro- 



613. Barn S\v illow 



gastra. 



Range. — Whole of North America; winters 

 south to South America. Barn Swallow 



This Swallow is the most beautiful and grace- 

 ful of the family, and is a familiar sight, to everyone, skimming over the mead 

 ows and ponds in long graceful sweeps, curves and turns, its lengthened outer 

 tail feathers streaming behind. Throughout their range, they nest in barns, 

 sheds or any building where they will not be often disturbed, making their nests 

 of mud and attaching them to the rafters; they are warmly lined with feathers 

 and the outside is rough, caused by the pellets which they place on the exterior. 



Before the advent of civil- 

 ized man, they attached their 

 nests to the sides of caves, 

 in crevices among rocks and 

 in hollow trees, as they do 

 new in some localities. Their 

 eggs cannot be distinguished 

 from those of the Cliff Swal- 

 low. Data. — Penikese Is., Mass., July 2, 1900. 

 Nest on beam in sheep shed: made of pellets of 

 mud. lined with feathers. 



til 1. Tree Swallow; White bellied Su vl 

 i ow. Tridoprocne bicolor. 



Range. Whole of temperate North America, 

 breeding from middle United States northward; 

 winters in the Gulf states and along the Mexi 



can border and southward. 



This vivacious and active species is as well 

 known as the last, and nests aboul habitations 

 on the outskirts of cities and in the country. 



