WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



or more contiguous structures. The nests are 

 gourd-shaped, or Uke a chemist's retort, and are 

 fastened by the bulb to the cHff, generally where 

 it overhangs, with the curving necks opening out- 

 ward and affording an entrance just large enough 

 to admit the owner. This retort is constructed 

 of pellets of mud, well compacted in the little ma- 

 son's beak, and made adhesive by mixture with 

 the gluelike saliva with which all swallows are 

 provided. In this snug receptacle the pretty eggs 

 are laid upon a bed of soft straw and feathers. Such 

 was the elaborate structure deemed necessary by 

 the swallows so long as they nested in exposed 

 places, where they had to guard against the weath- 

 er and crafty enemies. ''But since these birds 

 have placed themselves under the protection of 

 man, they have found that there is no longer any 

 need of all this superfluous architecture, and the 

 shape of their nests has been gradually simplified 

 and improved. In 1857, on one of the islands in 

 the Bay of Fundy, Dr. T. M. Brewer met with a 

 large colony whose nests, on the side of the barn, 

 were placed between two projecting boards put up 

 for them by the friendly proprietor. The very 

 first year they occupied these convenient quar- 

 ters, every one of these sensible swallows built 



214 



