Tree Swallows 



Our Most Intimate Bird Neighbors 



Laura A. L. Turner 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



All through the cold bleak winter days the writer had been 

 telling school children, inexperienced teachers and Mothers' Clubs, 

 just how to have fine neighbors. With the coming of the migrant 

 birds, the chance remark of an incredulous listener, sounded like a 

 challenge to prove the value of suggestions made to others. As 

 a result, this accurate account is given of how five species of birds 

 come to nest in a 45 x 150 foot lot in a closely settled residence 

 section of the city of Buffalo, N. Y. 



The house, framed by shrubbery, stood thirty feet back from 

 the street. The grass plot and garden at the rear was surrounded 

 by a strong board fence bordered by shrubs and young trees. A 

 bird bath, made in the top of a 12-inch sewer tile was an important 

 feature. This bath was cleaned each morning and filled with 

 fresh water. 



Three species of birds had nested on the lot the previous year. 

 Late in April a pair of robins were observed to be prospecting. A 

 dish of thick mud was at once made ready and various strings, rags 

 and long rootlets, were left carelessly about the lawn. These 

 helps appealed at once to "Betsy" Robin and in building her nest 

 on a bracket under the eaves, on the south side of the house, she 

 freely made use of the available material. Four young robins flew 

 out from this nest and got safely on the wing. 



On the warm bright morning of April 25, the Tree Swallows, 

 "Top" and "Topsy" arrived and wenc at once to the box, 20 feet 

 up, on the rear of the house which had been their home the previous 

 season. No one who watched the familiarity of these birds with 

 their surroundings could doubt but that they were the same birds, 

 which had nested here before. Their joy in homecoming was 

 unmistakable. However, they soon discovered a new box of the 



188 



