CIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 193 



straw and feathers. Such was the elaborate structure deem- 

 ed necessary by the swallows so long as they nested in ex- 

 posed places, where they had to guard against the weather 

 and crafty enemies. "But since these birds have placed 

 themselves under the protection of man, they have found 

 that there is no longer any need of all this superfluous 

 architecture, and the shape of their nest has been gradually 

 simplified and improved. In 1857, on one of the islands 

 in the Bay of Fundy, Dr. T. M. Brewer met w 7 ith a large 

 colony whose nests, on the side of the barn, were placed 

 between two projecting boards put up for them by the 

 friendly proprietor. The very first year they occupied 

 these convenient quarters, every one of these sensible swal- 

 lows built nests open at the top, discarding the old patri- 

 archal domes and narrow entrances of their forefathers." 

 This is not an isolated case, but rather has come to be the 

 rule wherever there was a roof over them, so far as my own 

 observation goes. 



The purple martin and white-bellied swallow both accept 

 of houses ready made, saving themselves all trouble except 

 in furnishing them; and even the burrowing- bank and rough- 

 winged swallows are learning that it is cheaper to build in 

 a snug cranny in an old wall than laboriously to dig a deep 

 crypt in a sand-bank wherein to lay their pearly eggs. 



13 



