502 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



seen to be of only about half the bulk of the swift and the hind margin 

 of its proportionately broader wing is straight instead of concave as is 

 that of the swift. In flight the Violet-green Swallow, while adept enough, 

 is less speedy and never as daring as the swift, and its notes, even when 

 uttered in series, are not given in the torrential manner characteristic of 

 the swift. 



The Violet-green Swallow arrives early in the Yosemite region. It was 

 already present at El Portal upon our visit to that place on April 27, 1916, 

 and was found in Yosemite Valley the following day. East of the Sierras, 

 in 1916, it appeared on May 6, when a scattering flock was observed at 

 the mouth of Rush Creek near Mono Lake. Throughout the summer months 

 and until early September the species is much in evidence below the 7000- 

 foot contour. At Washburn Lake on August 24, 1915, a troop of at least 

 12 was seen making its way high overhead down the caiion. Two were 

 seen below Vernal Falls on September 1, 1915, and on September 10 the 

 same year, five or more of these birds were noted near Walker Lake. 

 Mr. C. W. Michael (MS) saw the species in Yosemite Valley during stormy 

 weather on September 23, 1920. These are our latest records of the species. 



Soon after arriving here the Violet-green Swallows begin hunting for 

 nest sites. Unlike the Cliff and Barn swallows, they seek natural cavities 

 in trees or crevices in rocks. On the blue-oak covered hillsides near La- 

 grange, on May 6 and 7, 1919, several pairs of these birds were prospecting, 

 flying here and there, entering and leaving old woodpecker holes or cavities 

 left by the rotting out of stubs, and doing much twittering. But our 

 impression was that nesting would not commence in earnest yet for some 

 days. The Violet-green Swallows seen on Negit Island in Mono Lake on 

 May 27, 1916, seemed to be searching for nest locations in the cracks of 

 the lava in the rougher parts of the islet. At Sierra Point on May 16, 

 1919, some of the swallows seen appeared to be settled for the season. 

 Two, in particular, were again and again seen to alight on a certain little 

 bench of rock near a cleft in the cliff. In Yosemite Valley, in 1915, a 

 female was seen gathering nest material on May 31. Other pairs in the 

 Valley that year were more advanced with their nesting program, as young 

 were observed there on the wing, June 24. East of the Sierras, at Mono 

 Lake Post Office on July 1, 1916, a female was found sitting on three 

 incubated eggs in a nest on a cross beam in a barn, entrance to which 

 had been gained through a knothole in the wall of the building. 



Like other swallows the present species spends most of the daylight 

 hours on the wing. Much of its hunting, as is noted often in Yosemite, 

 is done high in the air. On the afternoon of May 29, 1911, there was a 

 thunderstorm over the Valley, and another developed at late dusk. Just 

 as the clouds were gathering and the sun was setting, large numbers of 



