BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 279 



251 [613] Hirundo erythrogaster Bodd. 



Barn Swallow. 



Abundant summer resident ; (April 17) April 28 to September 22 ; average 

 date of arrival for five years, May 2. 



Eggs : May 24 to July 12. 



The unusually early date, April 17th, was in 1904, when on a cold day 

 with snow flurries, I observed a Barn Swallow together with a Tree Swallow 

 flying about the dunes close to the beach at Ipswich. 



Barn Swallows nest commonly in all the good old-fashioned barns, of which 

 there are many in Essex County. They fly in and out through the doorways 

 and broken windows, and their musical twitterings and pleasing song, for song 

 they have, are always suggestive of the delights of a farm. They also build 

 their nests on the beams of small sheds, and one was built this year, 1904, under 

 the broad eaves of a boat-house on the marsh. It is interesting to see a num- 

 ber of young birds sitting on the tops of bean poles, all heading towards the wind 

 like weather-cocks, fluttering their wings when the parents come to feed them. 

 The transfer of food aiso takes place on the wing, the parent and young flying 

 up to meet each other. 



Barn Swallows are very common feeders along the beaches, and, excepting 

 the large flocks of Tree Swallows, are the most common Swallow there. On 

 one occasion I heard a great outcry among them and found a company of Barn 

 Swallows mobbing a jack rabbit as he bounded off on the upper part of the 

 beach. All the Swallows frequent the beaches during stormy weather, and, 

 owing to the abundance of insects there, they probably suffer less than inland 

 birds from the storms. During wet weather Barn Swallows follow and fly 

 around a man or horse walking through- the fields, often flying within a few feet 

 to capture the insects aroused from the grass. 



There is an albino Barn Swallow in the collection of the Peabody Acad- 

 emy. 



252 [614] Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieill.). 

 Tree Swallow; White-bellied Swallow; "Martin." 



Abundant summer resident ; March 1 5 to November 2 ; average date of 

 arrival for ten years, March 28. 



