Swallows SONG-BIRDS. 



brick-red on throat. A partial steel-blue collar. Tail shows 



white band from beneath. Female smaller and paler. 

 Song : A musical twitter like a rippling, merry laugh, " Tittle-ittle- 



ittle-ee." 



Season : April to September. 

 Breeds : Everywhere. 

 Nest : A shallow bracket, made of pellets of mud and straw, placed 



on or against rafters, etc. 

 Eggs : 4-6, white, curiously spotted with all shades of brown and 



lilac. 

 Bange : North America in general, from the Fur Countries southward 



to the West Indies, Central America, and South America. 



The Swallows belong to the air, as the Warblers do to the 

 trees and the Thrushes to the ground. Swallows, unless 

 when gathering before the fall migration, are seldom seen 

 perching, except upon telegraph wires, and they leave these 

 with such sudden and forking flight that they seem spurred 

 by the electric current. If, in the daylight hours, you see 

 a bird in rapid but nonchalant pursuit of insects, you may 

 safely assume that it is either a Swallow or the Chimney 

 Swift, for the Flycatchers have a different flight, the Night- 

 hawk is more ponderous, and Whip-poor-wills seldom take 

 to the air between dawn and dusk. 



The distinguishing mark of the Barn Swallow is his sharply 

 forked tail, brick-red throat, and buff breast. It is the com- 

 monest species and the most familiar, owing to the fact that 

 it builds so freely about barns and dwellings. Its nest is 

 one of the earliest that country children learn to know ; and 

 the first eggs that many a boy has stolen and concealed, 

 while his conscience was still keen enough to prick him, 

 have been those of the Barn Swallow. 



Several broods are sometimes raised in a season, the hatch- 

 ing continuing to late July. In fact, the last brood has en- 

 tered the world, through our hayloft window, the first week 

 in August. These Swallows have very sympathetic natures ; 

 for when danger threatens or disaster destroys a brood, the 

 friends quickly gather about and seem to offer advice or 

 condolence. 



128 



