BARN SWALLOW. 



613. Hirundo erythrogastra. 7 l / 2 inches. 



Female duller plumaged and with a less deeply 

 forked tail than the male. Fore*head and throat chest- 

 nut and entire under parts buffy; tail deeply forked 

 and with a white spot on the inner web of each 

 feather except the central pair. 



This is the most graceful and beautiful of all our 

 swallows, and is the most common about farm houses, 

 the inside beams and rafters of which they appro- 

 priate for their own use. They delight in skimming 

 over the rolling meadows or the surface of ponds, now 

 rising with the wind, now swooping downward with 

 the speed of an arow. 



Song. A continuous, rapid twitter. 



Nest. A bowl-shaped structure made up of pellets 

 of mud cemented together with the birds' saliva, and 

 lined with feathers; attached to rafters in barns, the 

 opening being at the top and not at the side as in the 

 last; eggs exactly like those of the last. 



Eange. N. A., breeding north to the limit of trees; 

 winters in northern South America. 



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