p. LUNIFRONS : CLIFF OR EAVE SWALLOW. 185 



pendicular faces of rocks and hard embankments; 

 and have latterly acquired the name of " Eave " Swal- 

 lows, from the circumstance that they have readily 

 availed themselves of the eligible nesting sites afford- 

 ed by the walls of houses under shelter of the eaves. 

 Therefore, the settlement of the country affords unlim- 

 ited breeding resources where formerly there were 

 none ; and these Swallows have consequently become 

 common in New England. They were actually known 

 in this part of the country before their discovery by 

 Say in the West; but natural breeding-places, such 

 as these birds require, are not 

 to be found everywhere in the 

 Eastern States. The remark- 

 able nests which the industrious 

 birds construct with such inge- 

 nuity and labor may now be 

 seen sticking in rows under the 

 eaves of buildings anywhere ; 

 mud-retorts, with the hole in fig. 45— cliff or eave swal 



, - . , 1 . .J •.! LOW. (Natural si/.e.) 



the neck, furnished mside with 



hay and feathers. The degree of perfection to which 

 the flask-shape is carried depends much upon circum- 

 stances, some nests having no neck. The eggs close- 

 ly resemble those of the Barn Swallow, being sim- 

 ilarly marked ; they are a trifle larger on an average, 

 but no one could distinguish them with certainty. 

 Two broods are usually reared each season. The 

 birds are among the most sociable and amiable of the 

 Swallows, fifty or a hundred of their nests being often 

 massed together on a cliff, or strung along the rafters, 

 without the slightest difference of opinion on the part 

 of the owners. 



