IlliaNDlNlD.E — Tin: SWALLOWS. 341 



ally increased about iai'»iis near the coast. In the wild districts they build 

 in tlie caves that abnunil in the Idull's alnn^ tlie sea-sh<»ie trnni San l)nniinL,ni 

 to Cnlunibia Iiiver. Dr. SuckU'V found them also ni(»dciately abumhint 

 about tht; basaltic clills, near Fort I )alles, ^ )regon. They are much more 

 abundant aViout the coast tlian tartlier iidand. 



^fr. Iiidi^'way found tiiis Swallow a v .ly c(»nnnon sjiecies in all the rocky 

 h>calities in the vicinity of water, Itut not so numerous as tlie ! nnij'ron.-^. 



In MaA' it was i)articularlv numerous in the neii^hborhcKul of Pvnimid 



civ »* •. 



Ljd<e, where its nests were built anionic the " tufa domes,"' attached to the 

 roofs of the caves. It was sehlom that more than cue or two pairs were 

 found to;^ether. 



In July he found a nest that contained youn^', in a cave among the linu^- 

 stone clills of the canons of the Kast Humboldt Mountains, at an altitude 

 of about eii»ht thousand feet. Manv of their nests were found in Mav, in 

 the caves of the tufa rocks, ou the shores of I'yramid Lake, as well as on 

 the i.slands in the lake. 



Mr. Hepburn writes that he found this Swallow widely diffused along the 

 Pacific coast, as far to the nortli as Sitka. In California he found it verv 

 local, connnon near the coast, rare inland. Its earliest ap])earant;e is March 

 2(), the »4reat bulk leave in AuLjust, and the last stra^^lers are "r<)iie before 

 the last of Septend>er. They breed in caves and crevices of rocks, and also 

 under the sides of the wooden bridges that span the gullies at San Francisco. 

 Two broods are hatched in a vear. The earliest eiiijr was found on the .'^)()th 

 of Ajnil, but they are usually a fortnight later. The second laying is about 

 the lirst of July, and no eggs were found later than the 4th of August. It 

 is at all times ([uite common to find nests with fresh eggs close to others 

 witli half-u:rown v<jun'4-. 



Mr. J. K. Lord publislies an interesting account of a visit made by a s<tli- 

 tary pair of liarn Swallows to his party Mhen encamped ;it Schyakwatecn, 

 in IJritish Cobunbia. A small shanty, loosely budt of ])oles, and tightly 

 roofed, was in constant use as a Idacksmitli's shop. Early one summer 

 morning late in June, a pair of Swallows ])erched on the rc^of of this shed, 

 without exhil>itin.n' the sliuhtest fv^ar of the noise made bv the Itellows or the 

 showers of sparks that tlew all around. Presently they entered the house 

 and carefully examined the roof and its su) (porting poles, twittering to each 

 other all the while in the most excited manner. At lenuth the important 

 (pu'stion ap])eared to be settled, and the following day they commenced 

 buihling on one of the [xdes immediately over the anvil. Though the ham- 

 mer was constantly passing close to tlieir structure, these birds kept steadily 

 at their work. \\\ about three days the rough outline of the nest had been 

 constructed. Curious to see i'rom whence they procured their materials, ]\Ir. 

 Lord tracked them to the stream where, on its edge, they woiked up the 

 clay and tine sand into a kind of mortar v/ith their 1>eaks. They worked 

 incessantly, and in a few days their nest was finished, the mud walls having 



