JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



39 



In the east they almost invariably 

 place their nests under the eaves of va- 

 rious buildings, and the selection of a 

 barn as a nesting site by a colony of 

 these birds is a godsend to the owner 

 on account of the large number of in- 

 sects destroyed by the birds. In the 

 building season they may be seen 

 grouped around the edge of some road- 

 side puddle engaged in working a 

 mouthful of mud into shape for nest 

 construction, and when laden they re- 

 turn homeward each individual is 

 greeted in cheerful twitters by its mate 

 who has been in the nest on guard, but 

 who immediately yields its place and 

 itself flies off after nesting material to 

 again return and go through the same 

 actions. It takes from ten to fourteen 

 days for the Cliff Swallows to finish 

 their nests and about the same length 

 of time for the Barn Swallows. The 

 Cliff Swallows, as far as I have ob- 

 served, always nest in colonies, as I 

 have never seen a single nest alone by 

 Itself. 



The Bank Swallows also always nest 

 in colonies, excavating their burrows 

 to a depth of from 2 to 7 feet in the 

 face of a sand bank. In beginning the 

 nests the birds alight against the per- 

 pendicular face of the sand bank and 

 holding with their feet, bracing with 

 their tails and fluttering their wings, 

 they start the hole with their bills. I 

 think they use their bills very largely 

 throughout the entire work of nest con- 

 struction, though doubtless the feet 

 also are sometimes used. The holes 

 are about 25 or 3 inches in diameter 

 and usually about 2 feet deep, but when 

 subjected to the attentions of the small 

 boy, the birds often dig to a depth of 7 

 feet . The holes usually extend slight- 

 ly upwards into the face of the bank 

 until back near the end, where they 

 drop downwards and enlarge about 

 twice their diameter into a circular 

 chamber in which is placed a nest of 



dry grass stems, lined with feathers. 

 I have observed colonies of from ten 

 to five hundred pairs of these birds. 



The Rough-winged Swallow is a bird 

 I am personally unacquainted with. 

 Unlike the Bank Swallow they are said 

 to not always nest in colonies, and 

 some individuals do not excavate their 

 own nesting places but seek crevices in 

 railroad culverts and bridges as nest- 

 ing places. 



The Tree Swallows are not as social 

 by habit as most of the other swallows. 

 They usually seek holes in trees, those 

 made by woodpeckers being often se- 

 lected. The numerous stubs around 

 the margins of ponds and rivers are fa- 

 vorite localities, and here the Tree 

 Swallows nest in widely scattered col- 

 onies or single pairs. If a Tree Swal- 

 low be seen flying about during the 

 nesting season, it cannot be watched 

 long before it will go to the nest and 

 relieve its mate in the duties of incu- 

 bation or present to it some insect 

 delicacy. An incubating bird will us- 

 ually remain on the nest until removed 

 by one's hand, and no amount of 

 thumping upon the stub will suffice to 

 drive some of them out. A very pecu- 

 liar characteristic of this species is 

 that if a feather be taken from one of 

 their nests and thrown into the air the 

 owner as well as any other individual 

 of the same species which happens to 

 be in the vicinity will immedately 

 make a dive for the feather, and the 

 bird catching it will retain possession 

 until able to deposit it in its nest. 

 Tree Swallows will also select as nest- 

 ing places suitable crevices and holes 

 in bridges and buildings as well as bird 

 houses. 



The Violet-green Swallow is not well 

 known to me though I have seen the 

 species at a distance in its western 

 home. Its habits are said to be similar 

 to those of the Tree Swallow. 



