280 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Eggs: May 14 to June 15. 



On March 15th, 1879, three Tree Swallows were seen at Swampscott by 

 the late Dr. J. A. Jeffries, and again, in 1902, on March 15th, Mr. H. W. 

 Wright saw two Tree Swallows at Ipswich. This is an unusually early date. 

 The birds are generally gone by the middle of September ; in fact, most of the 

 Tree Swallows of the County have, I believe, left by the middle or end of 

 August, while birds seen later come from more northern homes. The latest 

 date, November 2d, 1878, is also from Dr. Jeffries' notes, where he records that 

 he saw one bird " pursued by a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers." 



The Tree Swallow is faithful to its name, as, much more commonly than is 

 generally supposed, it still nests in hollow trees in Essex County. I have found 

 it nesting in apple trees in orchards, and in hollow trees in the Topsfield marshes. 

 Maynard l speaks of finding its nest in a hole in an old blasted cedar in the 

 Ipswich dunes. Mr. S. P. Fowler 2 reported a Tree Swallow "building in an 

 old nest of the Baltimore Oriole " at Danvers. The bird prefers, however, the 

 bird-houses made for its benefit, but it is rare to find more than one family 

 breeding in the same house, no matter how many the apartments. These are 

 most delightful birds to watch and I consider a year lost in which I do not put 

 up a new house for them — and it generally finds an occupant. During the 

 latter part of July and August, long after the young are full grown, it is a com- 

 mon sight to see half a dozen or more Tree Swallows flying about a bird-house, 

 alighting on the roof and clinging to the pole below. They balance themselves 

 on the upright pole and on the narrow ledges of the house by extending and 

 fluttering one wing. During the summer of 1904 two of my houses were occu- 

 pied by Bluebirds soon after the departure of the broods of Tree Swallows, and 

 after this no Swallow approached the houses with any comfort to himself. 



By July 1st, Tree Swallows begin to collect, at first in small flocks, in the 

 salt marshes. These flocks rapidly increase in size, and by the end of July and 

 first of August immense numbers of Tree Swallows may be seen all along the 

 seacoast, particularly in the region of the salt marshes and sand dunes. At 

 times they cover the sand, fences, roads, and bushes in one black mass, or they 

 string along the telegraph wires, sitting shoulder to shoulder for several hundred 

 yards. In the salt marshes they alight on sticks, the " staddles " or platforms 

 for salt-hay cocks, boat-houses, and gunners' blinds. In the dunes and pastures 

 by the sea their favorite perch is among the bayberry bushes (Myrica carolinen- 

 sis), for here they obtain the wax-covered bayberries of which they are so fond, 

 and which are to be found, generally bereft of their outer coating, in the drop- 



1 C. J. Maynard : The Naturalist's Guide, p. 106, 1870. 

 2 S. P. Fowler: Proc. Essex Inst., vol. 3, p. 35, i860. 



