•262 Breninger, Changes in Habits of Birds. [Oct 



of placing the nest on some overhanging rock or bank of clay. In 

 sections of country where houses are few or entirely absent, both 

 species nest on the face of a rock. Such places are rare, for 

 wherever there is inducement enough to offer a home for the swal- 

 lows, there is enough for man. With the advent of man, a house 

 follows, and the swallows are not long in finding it. 



Down in Mexico I saw both extremes, proximity to man, and 

 where man was absent. In the ancient town of Tuxpan, State of 

 Jalisco, I saw numerous instances of Barn Swallows nesting in 

 the living rooms. In the unsettled portions of the State of Chia- 

 huahua, a hundred miles back from the railroad on one of the 

 large 'haciendos' — a region devoid of the time-honored 'adobe ' — 

 Barn Swallows still nested on the rocks. 



Throughout the eastern part of the United States Flickers 

 {Colaptes auratus) frequently take up their abode within build- 

 ings, entering by way of holes cut by themselves. In the west the 

 Red-shafted Flicker {Colaptes cafer collaris) has taken up the 

 same habit, only to a less extent, due to the less pressing need. 

 How conspicuous are the woodpecker holes in telegraph poles in 

 some sections of the country ! Here a little investigation will soon 

 reveal that the large trees have been removed, and that the poles 

 offer a better nesting site than anything left standing in the woods. 

 Along the railroad between Benson and Bisbee, Arizona, the tele- 

 graph poles and fence posts show evidence of the work of wood- 

 peckers, all by the Texan Woodpecker. Throughout this region 

 trees are few, and the woodpeckers are forced to use anything 

 that is dead and large enough to permit of a nesting cavity being 

 excavated in it. Dead stalks of the century plant are often used. 

 About Phoenix, Arizona, this woodpecker is common, timber suited 

 to their needs is still in abundance, and the poles along the rail- 

 roads and elsewhere are untouched. In some parts of Mexico the 

 work of woodpeckers on telegraph poles has reached the stage of 

 a nuisance, and a source of much outlay of money to keep the line 

 in repair. Over a piece of road running between San Luis Potosi 

 and Tampico the nuisance has become so great that the manage- 

 ment threatened to dip the poles in a solution of creosote. 



House Finches {Carpodacas mexicanus frontalis) readily accept 

 any change offered, in this being a close second to the English 



