THE BARN SWALLOW. 



277 



We may take it as an especial mark of the confiding nature of this bird 

 that its nest is placed inside the barn, and we shall not be far astray so far 

 as the bird's disposition is concerned. But under primitive conditions it is a 

 cave dweller, and like Phcebe, has simply done the easiest thing upon the ad- 

 vent of civilization. At the head of a romantic lake in the West I once came 

 upon a little grotto, which could be entered only from the water or the air. 

 In a space the size of a small room were half a dozen nests of this Swallow 

 lodged 

 against the 

 granite 

 walls. Bui; 

 so thorough- 

 ly familiar 

 did the birds 

 appear, that 

 save for the 

 cool lapping 

 of the waves 

 upon the 

 rocks I could 

 have imag- 

 ined myself 

 at home in 

 father's barn. 

 Swallows 

 are very so- 

 ciable crea- 

 tures, and 



after the families- one or two each season, as the case may be have been 

 successfully brought out, the birds join themselves in great roving companies 

 which embrace their own and other kinds. This broad democracy of taste is 

 never more clearly illustrated than when four or five sorts are seen lined up 

 together on a telegraph wire. 



Delaware County. 



A BARN SWALLOW'S NEST. 



Photo by the Author. 



