^8 Bates, A Swalhiv J?oosf hi Mainr. V^^^- 



black. The top of the head is pale yellowish, irregularly spotted 

 with black ; abdomen grayish ; throat light reddish yellow ; breast 

 whitish. The legs are reddish chocolate, as also the bill at the 

 base, the tip being a pale flesh color, and very blunt, having the 

 appearance of being cut off squarely. While handling one of the 

 chicks from which this description was taken it twice ejected 

 considerable portions of a soft shelled crab. Another nest, con- 

 taining one egg and two chicks ; the chicks were younger than the 

 one above described, and were of a generally darker color. 

 The yellowish tinge of their down was also rather stronger in tone. 

 The red ants had found them out and were troubling them, but 

 they were probably too large and strong to be killed by them. 

 I saw no dead ones. The chicks utter a chirping sound, repeated 

 three times in succession. 



The pleasure derived from the many instructive days which 1 

 have passed in companionship of these Terns has led me to 

 prepare this contribution to the life history of these beautiful and 

 interesting birds. 



A SWALLOW ROOST AT WATERVILLE, MAINE. 



BY ABBY F. C. BATES. 



Not far from where a small stream, called the Messalonskee, 

 joins the Kennebec River, one may see at evening from the 

 middle of July to about the third week in September, an interest- 

 ing sight in the bird line. 



The willow trees along the banks of this stream, particularly a 

 close row some five or six hundred feet in length, form the 

 roosting place of vast numbers of Swallows. During the fore- 

 noon and early afternoon very few Swallows are to be seen in the 

 sky, — indeed they are conspicuous by their absence, — but a 

 little before sunset the birds begin to arrive in the vicinity, flying, 

 sailing, chasing each other around in the upper air, everywhere 

 within eye's reach. From north and south, east and west, in they 



