i^j THE CLIFF SWALLOW. 



very limited scab lamls. It is true liial certain ClilT Swallows, fuliowiiig 

 the example of their weaker eastern brethren, have taken to nesting inider 

 the eaves of churches and barns and outbuildings, but tliey are a negligible 

 <|naiility in comparison with the swarms wiiich still resort to tlic ancestral 

 "breaks"' of the Columbia gorge and the weird basaltic coulees oi Douglas 

 C'onnty. 



riie particular nesting site may be a matter of a season's use, jxipulous 

 this year and abandoned the next ; but somewhere along this frowning face i>i 

 basaltic columns Swallows were nesting Ix-fore old Chief Moses and his 

 copper-colored clans were displ.iced Ijy the white num. Soon after the re- 

 treating ice laid bare the lluted bastions of the Grand Coulee, I think, these 

 lly-catching cohorts swept in and established a northern outiK>st, an out])ost 

 which was n<jt abaiuloned even in those degenerate days when deer gave 

 way to cayuses, cayuses to cattle, and cattle to sheep and fences — fences, mark 

 you, on the Swallow's domain! 



F'vidcnce of this age-long occu]>ation of the lava-cliff is furnished not 

 only by the muddy cicatrices left by fallen nests, but. wherever the wall juts 

 out or overhangs, so as to shield a place below from the actitju of the elements, 

 by beds of guano and coprolitic stalagmites, which cling to the uneven surface 

 of tlie rock. Judged by the same testimony, certain of the larger blow-holes, 

 or lava-bubbles, must be used at night as lodging places, at least out of the 

 nesting season. 



'I'he well-known boitle- or retort-shaped nests of tlie Cliff Swallow are 

 composed of pellets of mud deposited in successive beakfuls by the industrious 

 birds. It is always interesting to see a twittering company of these little 

 masons gathering by the water's e<lge and moulding their mortar to the 

 rerpiired consistency. Not less interesting is it to watch them lay the fovmda 

 tions upon some sm<ioth rock facet. Their tiny beaks must serve for hods 

 and trowels, and because the first course of nnul masonry is the most par- 

 ticul.ir, they alternately cling and tlutter, as with many pnxls and fairy 

 thumps they force the putty-like material to lay hold of the indifferent wall 



There is usually much passing to and fro in the case of these cliff- 

 dwellers, and we cm never hope to steal u|win them unawares. When one 

 appro.iches from below, an alarm is sounded and anxious heads, wearing a 

 white frown, are first thrust out at the luouths of the liottles. and then the 

 air becomes filled with Hying Swallows, charging alxnit the head of the 

 intruder in bewiltlering mazes and raising a babble of strange frangiiile 

 cries, as tho a thousand sets of toy dishes were being broken. If the 

 newcomer appears harmless, the birds retmii to their eggs by ones and twos 

 an<l dozens until most of the company are disposed again. .\t such a moment 

 it is great sjiort to set up a siuhlen shout. There is an instant hush, electric, 

 ominous, while every little Inimi "f them is making for the door of his 



