706 ' The Sparrow-like Birds 



they constitute a very well perhaps the best defined group of oscinine 

 birds, being apparently without any very close relatives. To the uninitiated 

 the Swallows are not differentiated from the Swifts, but, as set forth under that 

 group, they are not at all closely related, not even belonging to the same order. 

 They are small birds, sufficiently characterized by their long, pointed, "nine- 

 primaried" wings, very short, flat, triangular, deeply cleft bills, and more or 

 less emarginated or forked tails of twelve feathers (the Swifts possess but ten), 

 while the tarsi are short and the feet weak and fitted only for perching. The 

 plumage is compact and is usually lustrous or semi-metallic, at least on the upper 

 parts, though sometimes dull colored throughout; there is but a single annual 

 moult, which takes place usually, at least, in autumn or winter. The sexes are 

 mainly alike. Swallows are preeminently insectivorous, feeding almost entirely 

 on flying insects which they capture on the wing, though some species feed on 

 berries of various sorts when their favorite insect food temporarily fails them, 

 owing to sudden or unseasonable changes of weather. During clear days they 

 may usually be seen pursuing their prey some hundreds of feet up in the air, 

 but in damp or rainy weather they often find their food supply only a few feet 

 above the surface of the earth. On the ground, which they rarely visit, they are 

 particularly awkward, but on the wing they are gracefulness personified, seeming 

 never to tire and making their wide circles and curves with little apparent effort. 

 Dr. Coues, than whom there is no more elegant writer on our birds, has the follow- 

 ing to say on the flight of Swallows: " The motion of the Swallow skimming 

 the ground, and 'quartering' in zigzag after its prey, has been aptly compared 

 to the coursing of the greyhound. No one who has attentively watched the flight 

 of Swallows can have failed to notice their peculiar 'towering,' when they rise 

 abruptly with a few vigorous strokes, and seem to hang suspended for a moment, 

 before falling with great velocity through a beautiful curve with half-gathered 

 wings, and at such little loss of impetus by friction that they avail themselves 

 of this peculiar line to rise nearly to their former level without muscular effort. 

 Sometimes their course is straight as an arrow's, and only less swift; some- 

 times they hover and flutter at seeming random, and not the least marvelous of 

 their feats is the spirited dash they make, with unerring aim, to enter the narrow 

 belfry, and settle, as light as a feather, with joyous twittering on the nest." 



Swallows are possessed of a considerable degree of intelligence, as the follow- 

 ing account will show. For several years the writer had under observation a 

 colony of the common Cliff or Eave Swallow. This was in a shed open on one 

 side, the nests being attached to the sleepers of the loft above. Here the nests 

 remained undisturbed, apparently the same birds returning to them year after 

 year. One nest in particular remained intact for several seasons and always 

 had a pair of occupants. Shortly after their return one spring the birds were 

 observed to be walling up the entrance to this old nest. After their departure 

 that fall the sealed nest was broken open and found to contain the desiccated 

 remains of a Swallow. It appears that one of the owners of the nest had died 

 and the others, recognizing the fact that it could not be used and would soon 

 become offensive, had securely closed the entrance. 



