THE TREE SWALLOW. | “aus 
ters might induce it to become a permanent resident of the Puget Sound 
country, and it is not certain that it has not already done so in some in- 
stances. It often reaches Seattle during the first week in March; while it 
was simultaneously observed at Tacoma (Bowles), and Bellingham (Edson) 
on the 24th day of February, 1905. In 1906 Mr. L. R. Reynolds reported 
seeing it in numbers on the Skagit marshes near Fir, on the Ist of February; 
and Dr. Clinton T. Cooke, looking from his office window in the Alaska 
Building, saw a large specimen, apparently an adult male, soaring about over 
the Grand Opera House, in Seattle, on the 21st day of January. 
The Tree Swallow is a lover of the water and is seldom to be found 
at a great distance from it. It is close to the surface of ponds and lakes 
that the earliest insects are to be found in spring, and it is here that the 
bird may maintain the spotlessness of its plumage by frequent dips. Hence 
a favorite nesting site for these birds is one of the partially submerged forests 
which are so characteristic of western Washington lakes. The birds are not 
themselves able to make excavations in the wood, but they have no difficulty 
in possessing themselves of the results of other birds’ labors. Old holes will 
do if not too old, but I once knew a pair of these Swallows to drive away a 
pair of Northwest Flickers from a brand new nesting-hole, on the banks of 
Lake Union, and to occupy it themselves. 
The nesting cavity is copiously lined with dead grass and feathers; and 
sometime during the last week of May from four to six white eggs are 
deposited. ‘The female sits very closely and it is sometimes necessary to 
remove her by hand in order to examine the nest. Both parents are very 
solicitous on such occasions, and should a feather from the nest be tossed 
into the air, one of them will at once catch it and fly about awaiting a chance 
to replace it. Or if there are other Swallows about, some neighbor will 
snatch it first and make off with it to add to her own collection. 
Tree Swallows are slowly availing themselves of artificial nesting sites. 
In fact, several species of our birds have become quite civilized, so that 
nowadays no carefully constructed and quietly situated bird-box need be 
without its spring tenant. A pair once built their nest in a sort of tower 
attic, just inside a hole which a Flicker had pierced in the ceiling of an 
open belfry of a country church in Yakima. When in service the mouth 
of the swinging bell came within two feet of the brooding bird. One would 
suppose that the Swallows would have been crazed with fright to find 
themselves in the midst of such a tumult of sound; but their enterprise 
fared successfully, as I can testify, for at the proper time I saw the 
youngsters ranged in a happy, twittering row along the upper rim of the 
bell-wheel. 
