CHANGES IN THE HABITS OF BIRDS. 219 



some deserted chimney ; and the cliff-swallow has left 

 the shelving rock to seek shelter under the eaves of our 

 roofs. The purple martin and white-bellied swallow 

 have left the wilderness to find a home in our villages. 

 The purple martins, during the last fifty years, have grad- 

 ually diminished in Eastern Massachusetts. He thinks 

 it equally certain that the barn-swallows are growing 

 less numerous, and attributes their diminution to our 

 modern tight barns. Chimney-swallows, on the other 

 hand, have become more numerous. The opening of the 

 Pacific Railroad, he thinks, will cause both plants and 

 birds to follow its track. 



