318 



SWALLOWS. 



and is particularly numerous in pineries having an undergrowth of 

 oaks. It may be easily identified, not alone by its color but by its 

 unique call-note — a clearly enunciated chicky-tucky-tuck. Its song 

 bears a general resemblance to that of the Scarlet Tanager, but to 

 my ear is much sweeter and less forced. 



The Louisiana Tanager {607. Firanga ludoviciana)., a species of our 

 Western States, has been recorded from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New 

 York. 



Family Hirundinid^. Swallows. 



About eighty species of Swallows are known. They are distributed 

 throughout the world. In their long, powerful wings and small, weak 

 feet Swalloi^s present an excellent illustration of the effects of use and 

 disuse. The greater part of their day is passed on the wing, and in 

 alighting they select a perch which they can grasp with ease. 



Fig. 89.— Barn Swallow. Cliff Swallow. 



Tree Swallow. 

 Bank Swallow. 



Swallows live almost exclusively upon insects, which they capture 

 on the wing, their large mouths, as in the case of the Swifts and Goat- 

 suckers, being especially adapted to this mode of feeding. 



They nest both in pairs and colonies, and during their migrations 

 associate in countless numbers at regularly frequented roosting places 

 or migration stations, which are sometimes in trees, but more often in 

 marshes, and to which they regularly return each night. They mi- 

 grate, as far as known, entirely by day, their wonderful power of flight 

 enabling them to escape the dangers which beset less rapid fliers. 



