HIRUNDINID^. — HIKUNDO RUFA. 93 



to fill the nest. It was three inches in length and nearly an inch and a half in 

 breadth, united with the nest only at its extremity. Mr. Audubon states that he 

 never met with this expansion in one recently constructed. 



The nest I have referred to was made up of ten distinct and separate layers of 

 mud, -worked into small pellets and j)laced in close juxtaposition. Between each of 

 these layers were interposed successive strata of fine dry grass. The nest measured 

 externally less than five inches in depth, and over five in its largest diameter. The 

 average thickness of its mud wall was about an inch. It was warmly stuffed with 

 fine soft hay, and thoroughly lined with downy feathers. The cavity was two inches 

 deep in its centre, and its largest diameter was three inches. This nest had been 

 several years in constant use by what is presumed to be the same pair of Swallows. 

 Although from eight to ten young have been reared from it yearly, for the last six 

 years, at least, none of them are known to have returned to the shelter of the 

 same roof to increase and multiply in their turn. This suggests the remark, that, 

 although I have occasionally found them, as described by Wilson, Audubon, and 

 Nuttall, breeding together in the larger barns of the farmers, several pairs under the 

 same roof, I have as often found, as in the present instance, a pair occupying for 

 successive years the same locality, without any companions. 



Mr. Audubon's measurements of the nest figured by him exceed those here given. 

 This may be owing to his having taken for his subject a nest that was not rested 

 upon, but built against, a rafter, or the side of a building. The stronger and more 

 solid foundation required to support it in that position would explain its superior 

 length and size, as well as account for its more conical shape. 



In favorable seasons the Barn Swallows raise two, rarely three, broods in the 

 same year. The number is usually five, often four, but rarely six, in a brood. 

 Nothing can be more interesting than to watch the first lessons in the art of flying 

 and feeding themselves given to the young Swallows by their parents, their strata- 

 gems to entice them from their nest, the support given tliem in their descent to 

 break their fall, and the attentive watchfulness of the one contrasted with the timid 

 awkwardness of the other. 



The ground color of their eggs is pure white. When fresh, their shell is so thin 

 and transparent that their yolk imparts to them a beautiful roseate tint. They are 

 marked with spots, usually of a reddish but occasionally of a purplish brown, chiefly 

 at the larger end, varying in number and size. The eggs are smaller, more elongate, 

 and the spots with a more distinctly reddish shade, than those of the ClifiF Swallow. 

 They vary in their shape as ■ well as in their markings. One now before me, un- 

 usually elongated, measures if of an inch in length and only j\ in its greatest 

 breadth. Another is ^ by i|. It will at once be seen how much these two eggs 

 must differ in their shape. 



The following are the measurements of a large series of the eggs of this bird : 

 greatest length || inch; least do. || inch; average do. || inch. Average breadth 

 y^Q inch; greatest do. || inch; least do. /g inch. 



