WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 257 
of Leland Stanford University. Students passed con- 
stantly just below them, but they showed no fear. 
Unlike the retort-shaped nests of most Cliff Swallows, 
the majority of these nests were open at the top like a wall 
pocket. The material was sticky clay, and was gathered 
outside the quadrangle. The Swallows flew down to 
this in small companies, and there were always one or 
two on the way going or coming. They seemed to pick 
up as much as their mouths would hold, but whether 
they also filled their throats, as some aver, seemed 
doubtful. The only support I have found for this view 
is the shape and size of each pellet as seen in an old 
nest. Also, some of the nests were so much harder 
than others that it would seem there might have been 
a difference in the saliva of the builders. 
In the case of these nests, the foundations were laid 
in a semi-circle, and on this were placed the pellets of 
mud, like bricks on a wall, thus building out and up at 
the same time. No straw or hair or other material than 
clay was used in the walls of these nests, but after they 
were completed a lining of feathers and fine grass was 
placed in them. We also found these Swallows building 
in the ruins of the patio of the old mission of San Juan 
Capistrano. Upon the quaint fresco designs of the 
chapel, the nests were plastered as abundantly as under 
the eaves of a barn. “ Yesterday a great mission; 
to-day a nesting place for owls and. swallows.” Here, 
as at Palo Alto, in some of the nests housekeeping had 
begun, and the pretty head of the mother bird peered 
over the adobe rim when we rapped on the wall. 
17 
