The Birds and Poets 91 



looked on with utter unconcern, offering no aid in 

 the defense of her mate. Mayhap the female bird 

 is impressed with the prowess of the male who is 

 victorious in battles of this sort, for I have 

 observed a number of such altercations where the 

 female took no part, and seemed waiting and quite 

 ready to bestow herself upon the victor, whichever 

 it should happen to be. 



Both bank and rough-winged swallows nest 

 every year in the canons in Deer Park near 

 Oglesby, Illinois, making their nests in the natural 

 crevasses of the sandrock strata which forms the 

 walls of the canons. The sand dunes and high 

 cliffs adjacent to the Great Lakes are also favorite 

 nesting resorts for the bank swallow. 



This little bird is the smallest of our swallows, 

 and can be readily identified by its nesting habits, 

 and its size, and the conspicuous brownish gray 

 band across its upper breast. When perched on an 

 old root or branch, it appears to have no neck at 

 all, but merely a neat little cap-like head set down 

 upon its trim little shoulders. 



The cliff and barn swallows are common sum- 

 mer residents. The purple martin is also common 

 where it is encouraged to build and is not driven 

 from the bird boxes by English sparrows. The 

 tree swallow, although a rare resident, is a com- 

 mon migrant in April and September. The latter 

 is conspicuously beautiful in his glossy green coat 

 and white vest, and the cliff and barn swallows are 

 easily distinguishable by their bright brown mark- 



