398 SINGING BIRDS. 



of the Cliff Swallow with which it was faced ; a small colony 

 having taken up their abode here. These were, as usual, made 

 of pellets of mud, enclosed at the top, but without the retort 

 necks. 



Like the rest of their congeners, these birds are almost per- 

 petually on the wing in quest of flies and other small insects 

 which constitute their ordinary food. Their note does not 

 appear to resemble a twitter, and according to Audubon it 

 may be imitated by rubbing a moistened cork round in the 

 neck of a bottle. In Kentucky, until the commencement of 

 incubation, the whole party resorted to roost in the hollow 

 limbs of the buttonwood-trees. However curious, it is certain 

 that the birds have but recently discovered the advantage of 

 associating round the habitations of men. 



Numerous colonies of this species are found throughout New 

 England and the Maritime Provinces, and a few pairs have been 

 seen at Point de Monts, on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, which is the limit of its northward range near the Atlantic. 



It is highly probable that the habit of breeding in large commu- 

 nities, and thus becoming " local " in distribution, will account for 

 the report of their having moved eastward during the first half of 

 the present century. As a matter of fact, Audubon discovered the 

 species in Kentucky five years before Say found it among the 

 Rockies. That the older writers knew so little about the bird 

 should not be taken as evidence of its absence, — they failed to 

 learn the history of several equally common species ; and after the 

 added years we are still ignorant of the breeding habits of some of 

 these birds. 



