THE OOLOGIST, 



211 



and listening to the first call of> the fe- 

 male which is uttered just before she 

 leaves the nest to feed, a After the birds 

 have taken <ving it is useless to try to 

 trace them as they take no further no- 

 tice of their nests until they have had 

 their frolic and are ready to return to 

 the nest. It is probable that the male 

 pei'forms the duties of the female while 

 she feeds, but as I have no definite au- 

 thority for it I merely offer it as a sea- 

 sonable suggestion. 



I trust this may at least benefit some 

 who live where the Whip-poor-will is 

 known to breed, but who have not, as 

 yet, been successful in locating- their 

 nests. If I succeed in this my efforts 

 will not be amiss. 



P. C. Chadwick. 



Lorving, Kas. 



Notes on the Barn Swallow. 



The Barn Swallow made its first ap- 

 pearance, for this year, in this locality, 

 April 29th. Although the season has 

 been remarkably early it has made not 

 the slightest diffei*ence in the arrival of 

 this bird. From a record which was 

 kept for a long term of years, of the ar- 

 rival of this bird, and which is now be- 

 fore me, I find that its earliest airival 

 was April 21st and its latest was May 

 2d — only 11 days variation. It departs 

 for the south about the middle of 

 August. 



It nests, almost invariably, in the 

 roof of an old barn. It lays four or five 

 and rarely six eggs, which are white, 

 spotted with brown; and it rears two 

 broods each year. Its nest is a cux'ious 

 affair, made of mud, into which are 

 mixed a few straws or long hairs, just 

 enough to give it a stringy appearance 

 when torn in pieces, but seldom enough 

 to be seen when the nest is entire. 

 Sometimes the horizontal surface of a 

 beam, or shelf is occupied as a nesting 

 place, but generally, by some mj'ster- 



ious process, the nest is glued to the per- 

 pendicular side of a rafter. No attempt 

 at concealment is ever made. The old 

 nests are often repaired and used year 

 after year, and it would seem, some- 

 times, at least, by other than the ori- 

 ginal builders. I have seen a nest, 

 which, as I was told by an old man, 

 had been occupied every year, for more 

 than forty years. 



Speaking of nests I am reminded of a 

 most curious, triple nest which I once 

 found. I was hunting in an old barn 

 for Swallow's eggs, when I noticed this 

 nest high in the gable. I climbed to it 

 and found that a Chimney Swift had 

 first built its nest of little twigs, cur- 

 iously interlocked and glued together, 

 and cemented to the barn with an ad- 

 hesive substance, which this bird sec- 

 rets in its stomach. Then a Phoebe had 

 utilized this nest as a shelf upon which 

 to build its own nest of moss, cemented 

 with clay. And lastly a pair of Barn 

 Swallows had, built their nest of mud, 

 above and partially resting upon that 

 of che Phoebe. I mention this as being 

 all the more curious, for the reason 

 that the Chimney Swift rarely nests 

 in bai-ns, and the Barn Swallow seldom 

 makes use of a projection upon which 

 to build its nest. Upon two other oc- 

 casions I have seen a Phoebe using the 

 nest of a Barn Swallow as a shelf upon 

 which to build its own nest. 



The Barn Swallow may be called 

 gregarious, but it is much less so than 

 its cousin, the Cliff or Eave Swallow. 

 It is rare to find more than a dozen 

 pairs of Barn Swallows occupying the 

 same barn, but it is not at all tincom- 

 mon to see fifty or more nests of the 

 Eave Swallow ranged side by side, each 

 nest joining its neighbor. The Barn 

 Swallow is very peaceably inclined 

 towards most other birds, and it is not 

 unusual to find its nest in close prox- 

 imity to the nest of a Chimney Swift, 

 a Phoebe, or a Robin. In fact, it was 

 only a few days ago, that I noticed a 



