WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



erythrogaster) has been much the same; and the 

 Rocky Mountain swallow (Tachycineta thalassina), 

 which breeds in far-separated colonies throughout 

 the mountainous West, is fast following its exam- 

 ple in scraping acquaintance with mankind. 



The natural breeding-place of all the three spe- 

 cies I have mentioned is in caves and crevices of 

 rock, the irregularities and hollows of limestone 

 crags affording them the best chances. "Swal- 

 lows' Cave/' at Nahant, is remembered as one of 

 their hospices. I have seen all three species breed- 

 ing together among the ragged ledges of Middle 

 Park, Colorado; but considerable differences were 

 noticeable between the houses of these uncivilized 

 builders and those of their educated brethren at 

 the East, who now, perhaps, would find it rather 

 hard to rough it as did their ancestors. 



Under the shelter of warm barns, and with such 

 an abundance of food at hand that they have plenty 

 of leisure between meals to cultivate their tastes 

 and give scope to their ingenuity, our barn and 

 eave swallows have shown a wondrous improve- 

 ment in architecture. The nests of the barn-swal- 

 lows that I saw at the hot sulphur springs in Col- 

 orado consisted only of a loose bed of straw and 

 feathers, for the hollow floors of the niches in which 



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