SWALLOWS : Family Hirundinidae [ 413 ] 



belly white. Young: similar, but colors duller and pattern less sharply defined; 

 throat usually, and other parts of head sometimes, spotted with white; tertials 

 and tail coverts edged with brown, chestnut of head partly or wholly wanting; 

 upper parts dull blackish. Length: 5-6, wing 4.05-4.55, tail z. 00-1.2.0." (Bailey) 

 Nest: A gourd-shaped structure built of bits of mud mixed with straw, lined with 

 feathers, and cemented to cliffs or buildings. Eggs: 3 to 5, white, spotted with 

 brown and lilac. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from central Alaska, Mackenzie, northern Ontario, 

 southern Quebec, and Cape Breton Island south over entire United States except 

 Florida and Rio Grande Valley. Winters in South America. In Oregon: Common 

 summer resident and breeding species throughout State, least abundant on coast. 



IN SUITABLE LOCALITIES the Northern Cliff Swallow (Plate 73, ff) is an 

 abundant summer bird that breeds in great colonies on the faces of over- 

 hanging cliffs or under the eaves of barns and other buildings. Its gourd- 

 shaped nests of mud are conspicuous and easily located. The bird is 

 most abundant in eastern Oregon where the great basaltic lava rims 

 furnish innumerable nesting sites. For several years there was a great 

 colony beneath a highway bridge near Arlington, and the birds swarmed 

 both above and below the bridge all day long. We have located other 

 large colonies at various times. In 192.6 we found hundreds of their 

 curious nests plastered on the rocks along the Blitzen River in southern 

 Harney County, and along the Malheur River at times there has been a 

 great colony in the basaltic rims that abound in that section. In western 

 Oregon, particularly in the Willamette Valley, the colonies are much 

 smaller and are frequently located beneath the eaves of barns and other 

 outbuildings. They normally contain a dozen or more pairs, though 

 sometimes as many as 50 nests will be found on one building. 



The earliest published reference to the Cliff Swallow in Oregon was in 

 1857 when Newberry reported it as common in the Willamette Valley 

 and not common east of the Cascades. Baird (Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence 

 1858) recorded it from The Dalles in May 1855, and Cooper (Cooper and 

 Suckley 1860) listed it as a common breeding species at Portland. Since 

 that time there have been many references to it, as workers have had 

 something to say about this common bird nearly every summer. It 

 arrives in April (earliest date, April 8, Sherman County) and remains 

 until September (latest date, September 18, Klamath County). 



In flight it is not as graceful as the Barn Swallow, with which it is 

 frequently associated about farmyards. Neither is it as swift nor as 

 erratic as its forked-tailed relative. Both species may be found in late 

 April or early May gathering mud from the damp spots, each pellet so 

 collected making a single brick in the nest structure being built for family 

 occupancy at a later date. By June i, nests containing unfinished sets of 

 eggs or fledglings several days old may be found in the larger colonies. 

 Patterson reported egg dates for Klamath County from May 12. to 30. 



