loo Birds Every Child Should Know 



himself with those marvellously quick, erratic 

 turns, which make his course through the air 

 resemble forked lightning. But with what 

 exquisite grace he can also glide and skim across 

 the water, fields and meadows without an 

 apparent movement of the wing! His flight 

 seems the very poetry of motion. The ease 

 of it accounts for the very wide distribution 

 of bam swallows from southern Brazil in win- 

 ter to Greenland and Alaska in summer. What 

 a journey to take twice a year! 



THE EAVE OR CLIFF SWALLOW 



More than any other bird family, the swal- 

 lows are becoming increasingly dependent for 

 shelter upon man, at least when they are nest- 

 ing; and as this is the season when they are 

 most valuable to him because of the enormous 

 ntunbers of insects they prevent from multi- 

 plying, let us hope that familiarity with us 

 will never breed contempt and cause them to 

 return to their old, uncivilised building sites. 

 In the sparsely settled West, the cliff swallow 

 still fastens its queer, gourd-shaped, mud nest 

 against projecting rocks, but in the East it is 

 so quick to take advantage of the eaves of the 

 bams and other out-buildings, that its old name 

 does not apply, and we know it here only as an 

 cave swallow. 



