166 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



of our common swallows, being dead grayish-brown 

 above and white below, with a band of grayish- 

 brown across the breast, so that vanity does not 

 interfere with their underground life. 



LI. 



EAVE SWALLOW; CLIFF SWALLOW. 



THE cliff swallow is the common swallow that 

 we constantly see on telegraph wires and about 

 barns in company with the barn swallow. It is 

 easy enough to distinguish between them, because 

 the tail of the eave, instead of being deeply forked, 

 is almost square ; its back, instead of being glossy 

 steel-blue, is dull blackish, and it also lacks the 

 steel-blue collar. 



The nest of the cliff swallow is "a gourd or 

 retort-shaped structure composed of pellets of mud 

 mixed with a few straws and lined with soft feath- 

 ers, attached to the face of overhanging cliffs or 

 underneath the eaves of buildings." 



LIL 



CROSSBILLS. 



IN November, 1887, one of the commonest sounds 

 heard on my walks was an odd metallic Icimp, 

 kimp, Tdmp, coming from a flock of crossbills far 



