SONG-BIRDS. Swallows 



world a class of emigrants whose human prototypes the 

 native American can barely withstand. 



Cliff Swallow; Eaves Swallow: Petrochelidon luni- 

 frons. 



Length : 6-5.50 inches. 



Male and Female : Above brilliant steel-blue ; beneath dusky white. 

 Sides of head, throat and chin rufous. Wings and tail glossed 

 with black. Bill dark ; feet brown. White, crescent-like front- 

 let, hence its specific name lunifrons, from luna, the moon, and 

 frons, front. 



Song . A squeak, more than a twitter. 



Season : Early April to late August. 



Breeds : In colonies, raising two broods a year. 



Nest : Either a bracket, or gourd-shaped, with the opening at the neck ; 

 of mud, with straws and feather-lined ; placed under eaves or 

 rocky cliffs. 



Eggs : 4-6, white with brown and purple markings. 



Eange : North America at large, south in winter to Brazil and Para- 

 guay. 



This familiar Swallow, which we in the East know as the 

 bird who builds its much-modified, gourd-shaped nest under 

 the eaves of old houses, is in the West wholly a cliff-dweller. 

 With us the shape of the nest depends greatly upon the site 

 chosen, many nests being merely elongated brackets. When 

 it builds under the protection of shelving cliffs, the nests are 

 of the typical bottle shape, and are often squeezed as closely 

 together as the cells of a wasp nest. 



This species is almost as brilliantly coloured as the Barn 

 Swallow, but lacks the grace in flying which the sharply 

 forked tail gives to the latter. Like all its tribe, it feeds 

 upon insects, which it takes on the wing. 



Barn Swallow: Chelidon erythrog aster, 



PLATE 24. FIG. 2. 



Length : Variable, 6-7 inches. 



Male and Female: Glistening steel-blue back, tail deeply forked. 

 Brow and under parts rich buff, which warms almost to 

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