142 LAND-BIRDS. 



era North America, where possibly they were once unknown. 

 There are probably no birds whose past history would be more 

 interesting than that of the Swallows. No birds better or more 

 curiously exhibit the modifying influence of civilization than 

 these. Those kinds who formerly built on cliffs, or in the 

 hollows of trees, now build their nests almost exclusively, in 

 Massachusetts, in situations about the buildings of man. It is 

 said by Dr. Coues, who quotes from Dr. Rufus Raymond, 

 in " The American Naturalist," for June, 1876, that an in- 

 stance of the Bank Swallow using an artificial nest, so to 

 speak, has already occurred. Dr. Haymond says : " The 

 White Water Valley Railway, in Brookville, Indiana, is built 

 upon stone piers, and spans the hydraulic canal, some five or 

 six feet above the water. While at the depot during the past 

 summer I saw a Bank Swallow fly under the building with 

 several blades of grass in her bill ; and being curious to see 

 what she would do with them, I watched her, and saw her 

 carry them through a two-inch auger hole, which had been 

 bored through a pine board. The spot was inaccessible, 

 owing to the water ; but I know from the droppings about the 

 hole that this was her nest." * It is almost needless to add 

 that this species usually burrows in sand. The Swallows lay 

 four or five eggs, which are white and unmarked, or spotted 

 with brown and purplish. 



I. CHELIDON. 



A. ERYTHROGASTRA. Barn Swallow. A very common 

 summer resident in most inhabited parts of New England. f 

 a. About 4J inches long from bill to fork of the tail. 



* Mr. Ridgway has suggested that settled portions of the whole of New 



this i anecdote, quoted from the Natural- England, but steadily diminishing in 



ist, is probably referable to the Rough- numbers in the neighborhood of most 



winged Swallow, a bird closely resem- of the larger towns and cities, espe- 



bling the Bank Swallow, and common cially in eastern Massachusetts. This 



in that section of the country, where change is doubtless due to the fact that 



the circumstance quoted is reeoncila- the old-fashioned country barns are 



ble to the usual habits of this species, being rapidly replaced by structures in 



[From the Appendix (p. 443) of the which no apertures are left for the free 



original edition.] ingress and egress of these beauti- 



t A common summer resident of the ful birds. W. B. 



