184 HIRUNDINID^ : SWALLOWS. 



through the greater part of September ; but the weather 

 has much to do with their movements. The nest is 

 built of hay, without mud, and Hned with feathers ; the 

 eggs are pure white, without markings, and from 0.70 

 to 0.78 long by 0.50 to 0.55 broad. 



CLIFF OR EAVE SWALLOW. 



Petrochelidon lunifrons {Say) Cab. 



Chars. Above, glossy steel-blue ; a blue-black spot on the throat ; 

 rump rufous ; a white or brownish-white crescent on forehead ; 

 throat and sides of head deep chestnut, the rest of the under 

 parts dull rusty-gray, or grayish-brown, becoming paler on the 

 belly ; much of the under parts with dusky sharp lines on the 

 individual feathers. Wings and tail blackish, with litde gloss, 

 and unmarked. Bill black ; feet dark. Sexes alike. Young : 

 Above, dark lustreless brown, with whitish skirting of the feathers ; 

 the throat-spot wanting, the frontlet a mere trace or wanting, the 

 chestnut parts quite pale. Length, 5.00-5.50; extent, 12.00-12.50; 

 wing, 4.25-4.50 ; tail, 2.25, nearly square. 



The " Republicans " enter and leave New England 

 about the same time that the Barn Swallows do, and 

 are among our common summer birds. They are 

 more numerous and more equably dispersed in settled 

 districts than formerly ; but I think that a good deal 

 that has been written of their supposed irruption from the 

 West is to be taken with salt. Some records have been 

 laboriously collected to show the dates of appearance 

 of these birds in particular localities ; such writing 

 has its own interest as a matter of fact, but not as sus- 

 taining the " eastward-ho ! " theory. The "Cliff" Swal- 

 lows, as their name implies, and as every one knows, 

 naturally fix their queer bottle-nosed nests to the per- 



