Nesting Habits of the Cliff Swallow 



255 



Mr. Howard H. Cleaves writes from the Public Museum, New Brighton, 

 N. Y., to the effect that he has observed a colony of a dozen pairs of Cliff 

 Swallows on a set of farm buildings at East Jewett, N. Y. "Three or four of 

 the nests are under the eaves of an old barn which has no paint, but the re- 

 mainder are attached to a smaller outbuilding which wears a yellow coat." 

 Mr. Cleaves also reports two pairs of these Swallows breeding on a red barn 

 between Boardville and Erskine, N. J. "The paint was scarcely more than a 

 stain. One nest was attached to timbers that had been treated with this 

 stain, the other was located on an untouched area." In June, 191 1, Mr. Cleaves 

 noted "three or four nests of Cliff Swallows attached to a stucco barn or shed 

 at Lenox, Mass." He also calls attention to a reproduction of a photograph 

 taken by Fred B. McKechnie of a colony of CMff Swallows at Lunenburg, Vt., 

 and published on page 341 of the March, 1914, issue of the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine. The building on which the colony is located is obviously 

 painted, though a narrow moulding nailed along the side of the structure 

 insures the nests against disaster by falling. 



Mrs. Al. Bayhouse, president of the Idaho Audubon Society, reports a 

 colony of forty-two nests of Cliff Swallows built under the eaves of a barn at 

 the Soldiers' Home at Boise. The barn is painted dark red, trimmed with 

 white, and the nests "were on the white boards under the eaves." There 

 were about three hundred birds in the colony. Mrs. Bayhouse also reports 

 one occupied nest on a white house last year, and another on "a barn painted 

 some dark shade." 



One of the most interesting reports was from Dr. Guy C. Rich, of Los 

 Angeles, Cal. Dr. Rich, who was for many years the leading ornithologist in 

 northwestern Iowa, says that he has found the Cliff Swallows nesting in the 

 sand-pits along the Big Sioux River near Sioux City, Iowa. I quote from his 

 letter — "While you make inquiries about the choice of painted barns for Cliff 

 Swallows, ask if anyone has noticed them breeding along with Bank Swallows 

 in a dirt bank. I am not sure that you ever visited the sand-pits up on the 

 Big Sioux, but I saw the small mud pellets plastered along the entrances of 

 several holes and found the eggs in some of the burrows." This is truly a 

 unique observation. Has this been noted by anyone else? 



Now for my own personal observations this summer of 1916. I have ex- 

 amined with great care thirty-four colonies and here append the result of my 

 investigations. The nests were located in New Hampshire, Maine, and New 

 Brunswick. Five of these colonies were on painted edifices and all the rest — 

 twenty-nine colonies — on buildings innocent of any evidence of ever having 

 been painted. Several of the colonies on unpainted barns were very large, 

 many of them comprising from three hundred to four hundred birds. 



Of those on painted buildings, the following facts will be of significant 

 interest. On a large painted barn at St. John, New Brunswick, a large colony 

 had built upon a supporting cleat under the eaves. A similar case was observecj 



