346 USEFUL BIRDS. 



one who walks among the tall grass in the fields may 

 notice how Swallows capture the moths that fly up about 

 the foot passenger. Prof. C. H. Fernald states that while 

 he and his friends were ^valking throuo:li the grass at his 



o c* o 



home at Mt. Desert several Swallows invariably attended 

 them and fed on different species of Crambus in abundance. 

 These observations were continued during several years. ^ 

 Codling moths, canker worm moths, and Tortricid or leaf- 

 rolling: moths are (gathered from the orchard bv the Swallows. 

 Horseflies, house flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and crane flies are 

 commonly caught. The only apparently harmful hal)it that 

 I have observed is that of picking up parasitic insects in 

 flight over fields infested with army worms or cutworms. 



Cliff Swallow. Eaves Swallow. 



Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons. 



Length. — About six inches. 



Adult. — Dark bluish above; forehead cream •nhite and rinnp light chestnut; 



throat chestnut ; other under parts ■whitish ; tail ends sqiiarely. 

 Nest. — Built mainly of mud, under the eaves of bams or out-buildings. 

 Eggs. — White, spotted with reddish-brown. 

 Season. — April to August. 



AVhen the first explorers reached the Yellowstone and 

 other western rivers, Swallows were found breeding on the 

 precipitous banks. As settlers gradually worked their way 

 westward the Swallows found nesting places under the eaves 

 of their rough buildings. In these new breeding places they 

 were better protected from the elements and their enemies 

 than on their native cliff's, and so the Cliff" Swallow became 

 the "Eaves Swallow," and, following the settlements, rapidly 

 increased in numbers and worked eastward. Audubon saAV 

 them first on the Ohio in 1815. They were seen near Lake 

 Champlain in 1817, at the White Mountains of New Hamp- 

 shire in 1818, at Cincinnati in 1819, and in 1830 they had 

 reached Winthrop and Gardiner, Me. The}^ increased and 

 spread rapidly over the eastern States, and probably reached 

 their maximum in numbers from 1840 to 1860. They were 



^ Professor Fernald states that the Crambids feed at the roots of grasses, and 

 that they midoubtedly destroy a large amount of grass without being discovered. 

 Professor Webster wrote him that in Ohio hundreds of acres of grass had been 

 destroyed by these moths. 



