CIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 1938 
straw and feathers. Such was the elaborate structure deem- 
ed necessary by the swallows so long as they nested in ex- 
posed places, where they had to guard against the weather 
and crafty enemies. ‘“ But since these birds have placed 
themselves under the protection of man, they have found 
that there is no longer any need of all this superfluous 
architecture, and the shape of their nest has been gradually 
simplified and improved. In 1857, on one of the islands 
in the Bay of Fundy, Dr. T. M. Brewer met with a large 
colony whose nests, on the side of the barn, were placed 
between two projecting boards put up for them by the 
friendly proprietor. The very first year they occupied 
these convenient quarters, every one of these sensible swal- 
lows built nests open at the top, discarding the old patri- 
archal domes and narrow entrances of their forefathers.” 
This is not an isolated case, but rather has come to be the 
rule wherever there was a roof over them, so far as my own 
observation goes. 
The purple martin and white-bellied swallow both accept 
of houses ready made, saving themselves all trouble except 
in furnishing them; and even the burrowing bank and rough- 
winged swallows are learning that it is cheaper to build in 
a snug eranny in an old wall than laboriously to dig a deep 
erypt in a sand-bank wherein to lay their pearly eggs. 
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