19 



BARN SWALLOWS are one of our 

 best known species since thej- are so 

 closely associated with dwellings in our 

 rural communities. Any time after 

 April 15th, they may be seen skimming 

 over pond, meadow or along country 

 roads with that grace of motion pecu- 

 liar to swalows. They often alight on 

 dead twigs, telephone wires and some- 

 times on the ground, but their feeding 

 is entirely done while on the wing and 

 the food consists almost wholly of tiny 

 flies or gnats. 



Apparently they remain mated for 

 life for the same pairs return to the 

 same place year after year, usually 

 building a new nest eacn season, close 

 to and often on the same site of the 

 old. The nest is made of pellets of 

 mud, fastened to the side of a beam or 

 rafter, — half-bowl shaped and warmly 

 lined with feathers. Wlienever possi- 

 ble, they make use of a projecting knot 

 or splinter of wood to help hold the 

 nest in place. The five or six eggs are 

 creamy-white, spotted all over witli 

 reddish-bown. . _ 



WARBLING VIREOS have a dull plumage with no con- 

 spicuous marking, but they have a lively warbling song of 

 a few seconds duration which readily identifies them. They 

 are abundant in orchard and shade trees and trees along 

 the roadside. Their homes are swung among the outer 

 branches of these trees usually quite high above ground. 

 WHITE-EYED VIREOS may be known because they do 

 actually have white eyes; they also have a yellowish ring 

 about the eyes and yellow on the flanks. They frequent 

 thickets and brier patches, — just such places as we may 

 find Chats and, like them, he is a skulker rarely seen but in 

 evidence by his loud and sharply whistled song, which is 

 quite varied and mimics that of other species. 



Earliest of the swallows to arrive in spring are TREE 

 or WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOWS, which come the 

 latter part of March or early in April. All swallows are very 

 useful birds economically, for their food is practically en- 

 tirely of insects. They are very graceful in flight, tireless of 

 wing and many have nesting habits of unusual interest. 

 The present species builds in holes in trees or in small bird 

 houses erected for them. BANK SWALLOWS, a small 

 gray species with lighter underparts and a band across the 

 breast, nest in holes in banks, their tunnels extending in 



