l82 



HIRUNDINIDyE : SWALLOWS. 



ally by the middle of May, rearing another family 

 late in June, and sometimes managing to dispose 

 of a third before the end of summer — using, if 



not making, much 

 hay "while the sun 

 shines." The well- 

 known nest, of pel- 

 lets of mud lined 

 with hay and often 

 also with feathers, 

 is placed upon the 

 rafters or under the 

 eaves of a barn 

 or other building, 

 which serves these 

 accom mod a ti ng 

 birds in good stead 

 of the holes in trees 

 they used to occupy 

 before the country 

 was settled. The 

 eggs are three to 

 five or six in num- 

 ber, rather narrow for their length, like the trim 

 bodies of the parent, from 0.68 to 0.78 long by 0.50 

 to 0.56 broad ; they are fully speckled with reddish 

 and purplish markings. 



Queer little eggs, scarcely or not half the natural 

 size, are often dropped by birds toward the end of 

 their recurrent periods of ovulation ; and such are gen- 

 erally infertile. Swallows' nests are so accessible, and 

 so often looked into by the children, that many such 

 " runt " eggs have come under our observation. 



Fig. 43. — Details of Structure of Barn SwaL' 

 LOW. (Natural size.) 



