THE SWALLOWS 



191 



The Barn Swallow 



Length six to seven inches. 



Upper parts shining steel-blue, but the face buff. 



Under parts rich buff, brick-red on the throat, where there is 

 also a steel-blue collar. 



Tail very long and deeply forked, with the side-feathers narrow, 

 and some white spots on them. 



Song a musical laugh, heard when the birds fly low over 

 meadows and ponds. 



Nest a sort of bracket, made of little mud balls and straw stuck 

 on a beam in a hayloft. Eggs white, with plenty of reddish-brown 

 spots. 



A Summer Citizen in most of the United States. 



A Sky Sweeper of the very first rank. 



Barn Swallow 



" Barney is a charming neighbor, who should be wel- 

 come in every home — sociable, musical, and very use- 

 ful in destroying the flies and gnats that worry horses 

 and cattle. Though it builds its first nest in May, it 

 often brings out its last brood in August ; thus dur- 

 ing its long nesting season consuming a very large 

 share of insects, and proving itself a kind friend to 

 the cows at a time when flies are most persistent." 



