BARN SWALLOW. 419 



order and affection; all seems harmony among them, as if the 

 interest of each were that of all. Several nests are often within 

 a few inches of each other; yet no appearance of discord or 

 quarrelling takes place in this peaceful and affectionate com- 

 munity. 



When the young are fit to leave the nest, the old ones entice 

 them out by fluttering backwards and forwards, twittering and 

 calling to them every time they pass; and the young exercise 

 themselves, for several days, in short essays of this kind, within 

 doors., before they first venture abroad. As soon as they leave the 

 barn they are conducted by their parents to the trees, or bushes, 

 by the pond, creek, or river shore, or other suitable situation, 

 where their proper food is most abundant, and where they can 

 be fed with the greatest convenience to both parties. Now and 

 then they take a short excursion themselves, and are also fre- 

 quently fed while on wing by an almost instantaneous motion 

 of both parties, rising perpendicularly in air and meeting each 

 other. About the middle of August they seem to begin to pre- 

 pare for their departure. They assemble on the roof in great 

 numbers, dressing and arranging their plumage, and making 

 occasional essays, twittering with great cheerfulness. Their 

 song is a kind of sprightly warble, sometimes continued for a 

 considerable time. From this period to the eighth of September 

 they are seen near the Schuylkill and Delaware, every afternoon, 

 for two or three hours before sun-set, passing along to the south 

 in great numbers, feeding as they skim along. I have counted 

 several hundreds pass within sight in less than a quarter of an 

 hour, all directing their course towards the south. The reeds are 

 now their regular roosting places; and about the middle of Sep- 

 tember there is scarcely an individual of them to be seen. How 

 far south they continue their route is uncertain; none of them 

 remain in the United States. Mr. Bartram informs me, that 

 during his residence in Florida, he often saw vast flocks of this 

 and our other Swallows, passing from the peninsula towards the 

 south in September and October; and also on their return to the 

 north about the middle of March. It is highly probable, that 





