[ 406 ] BIRDSOFOREGON 



Its intimate, confiding ways, constant cheerful twittering, and brilliantly 

 contrasting violet and green back combine to make it a favorite with all 

 bird lovers. 



It is the earliest swallow to arrive. It reaches southern Oregon by 

 late February and can be counted on to appear in the Columbia River 

 bottoms near Portland by March 6 or 7. We have a number of records 

 for the Rogue River Valley between February 10 and March i in different 

 years and could perhaps find it there still earlier by more continuous 

 observation (earliest date, February 2.0, Lane County). Eggs have been 

 found from May 7 to July i, and the height of the nesting season is 

 reached about June i. 



By early July, flocks of swallows, composed in many instances mostly 

 of this species, begin to form. They grow steadily in size until by Sep- 

 tember hordes of graceful, darting forms swirl over the meadows and 

 lakes, feeding on the abundant insect life of late summer. These swarms 

 are conspicuous either in flight or lining the telephone wires for rods 

 for many days until suddenly, as the nights grow chill, one awakes to 

 the fact that they are no longer present (latest date, October 6, Mult- 

 nomah County). They depart in a body, and the emptiness of the air is 

 emphasized by the occasional straggler that flits about perhaps looking 

 for the departed clans. 



Tree Swallow: 



Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieillot) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Under parts pure white; upper parts burnished steel blue; 

 lores deep black; wings and tail blackish, slightly tinged with green. Adult female. : 

 upper parts usually duller than in male, but sexes often indistinguishable. Young: 

 above entirely dull brownish slate. Length: 5.oo-6.z5, wing about 4.50-4.80, tail 

 x.3o-x.5o." (Bailey) Nest: In holes in trees or bird boxes, lined with grass and 

 feathers. Eggs: 4 or 5, white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from northwestern Alaska, southern Mackenzie, 

 northern Manitoba, and northern Quebec south to southern California, Colorado, 

 Kansas, northern Arkansas, and Virginia. Winters from central California, coast 

 and south Atlantic States to Central America. In Oregon: Common summer resident 

 and breeding species for western Oregon. Less common in eastern Oregon, except 

 in Klamath, Lake, Deschutes, and Wasco Counties, and not noted in higher parts 

 of Blue Mountains. 



THE TREE SWALLOW, unlike the Cliff Swallow, is most common in western 

 Oregon and about the high lakes in the Cascades. For several years there 

 was a thriving colony at the southeast base of Mount McLoughlin in the 

 dead trees that had been killed by the raising of Fish Lake for irrigation 

 purposes; and nearly every one of the high Cascade lakes, as well as such 

 coastal bodies of water as Tahkenitch, Siltcoos, and Devils Lakes, has 

 its quota of these swallows with steel-blue backs and pure white under 



