THE TREE SWALLOW. 



( Tachycineta bicolor. ) 



Along the surface of the winding stream, 

 Pursuing every turn, gay swallows skim, 

 Or round borders of the spacious lawn 

 Fly in repeated circles, rising o'er 

 Hillock and fence with motion serpentine, 

 Easy and light. One snatches from the ground 

 A downy feather, and then upward springs, 

 Followed by others, but oft drops it soon. 

 In playful mood, or from too slight a hold. 

 When all at once dash at the falling prize. 



' Carlos Wilcox, ' ' The Age of Benevolence. ' ' 



The Tree Swallow is not only a beau- 

 tiful bird, but also a useful sailor of 

 the air, capturing many insects that are 

 detrimental to the agricultural interests 

 of man. Its usefulness is greatly en- 

 hanced by a wide range. It is a bird 

 of North America; from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific Oceans and from the fur 

 countries of the North to the Gulf of 

 Mexico it flies and sails over land and 

 streams in search of food. It is the 

 earliest of the swallows to appear in its 

 northern breeding grounds and the latest 

 to retreat as the season of cold weather 

 approaches. In fact, it seems loath to 

 migrate at all and only flies southward 

 to localities where the climate is such 

 that it can obtain a supply of its insect 

 food. Though some individuals pass the 

 winter in Mexico and Central America, 

 the majority probably remain during 

 that season within the boundaries of the 

 United States. 



The Tree Swallow nests practically 

 throughout its range excepting in the 

 southernmost portion. Unlike some of 

 its sister species, this Swallow has not 

 as yet entirely abandoned the nesting 

 habits of its ancestors, but is passing 

 through a change in its choice of home 

 building sites. This is especially true 

 in the East, where the Tree Swallow 

 frequently accepts the hospitality ofifered 

 by man and rears its young in a bird 

 house, or in a building into which it 

 may enter through some inviting open- 



ing in the gable or under the eaves. Its 

 wilder habits still lead it, as a rule, to 

 seek the seclusion of wooded areas near 

 water courses where the trees have been 

 killed by frequent floods. Here, in nat- 

 ural holes caused by decay, or those 

 excavated and abandoned by woodpeck- 

 ers, the Tree Swallow builds its nest of 

 grasses and straw and lines it with a 

 thick layer of feathers. On this soft 

 bed its young are raised in safety and in 

 the quiet that this bird seems to love so 

 well for its domestic life. 



Dr. Robert Ridgway has well described 

 the natural habits of this restless and 

 interesting bird, which is also most ap- 

 propriately named the White-bellied 

 Swallow, in the following words : ''The 

 White-bellied Swallow is an abundant 

 species where there are suitable places for 

 the location of its nests. Some years 

 ago there were many large dead stumps 

 standing in the water in a stagnant pond 

 connected with the Wabash River im- 

 mediately above the dam at the Grand 

 Rapids, near Mount Carmel, Illinois. This 

 pond consisted of 'back water' resulting 

 from the building of the dam, and the 

 dead stumps were presumably the rem- 

 nants of trees that had been killed by 

 flooding, since they grew so thickly as 

 to leave no doubt of their having once 

 'formed part of the adjacent forest. These 

 dead stumps and snags were perforated 

 bv countless woodpecker holes, and in 

 these the White-bellied Swallows had 



