Cliff or Eave Swallow 



709 





a common bird in many portions of South America, especially in Argentina, 

 where it arrives in September. It is a garrulous bird, Mr. Hudson tells us, the 

 male and female who come mated singing in concert and persistently. They 

 are usually seen only in pairs and are never observed to alight on the ground 

 or on the roofs of houses but always on trees. Their flight is peculiar and quite 

 unlike that of their near relatives, and they never soar in circles. In Argentina 

 they place their eggs only in the clay ovens of the Oven-bird (Furnarius rufus), 

 which they usually take up with after the owners have reared their young and 

 left, but not infrequently the Martins desire possession before the Oven-birds 

 are through, and conflict fierce and prolonged ensues. Sometimes the latter 

 are able to hold their own, but most frequently they are dispossessed and the 

 nest of the Martin made on top of their eggs and they perforce retire to spend 

 a childless summer. 



The Cliff or Eave Swallow (Petrochdidon lunifrons) of North America, as 

 far north as the limit of trees, may be taken as typical of a genus of some dozen 

 species which occurs also in Central and South America, as well as in Africa, 

 Australia, and the Indian peninsula. They are small or medium-sized Swallows, 

 with a very short bill, superior nostrils, and a short, nearly even or slightly 

 emarginate tail, while the back is streaked with white and the rump bears a con- 

 spicuous patch of chestnut, cinnamon, or dull whitish. Too well known to need 

 more extended description, the Eave Swallow is distributed though somewhat 

 locally over practically the whole of North America in summer, retiring in winter 

 to Central and South America. By some it is asserted that it is an immigrant 

 of comparatively recent date throughout the eastern United States, as it did 

 not begin to attract much attention until the early part of the last century, but 

 as Dr. Coues has pointed out, "much of the testimony is merely indicative of 

 the dates, when, in various parts of the country, the birds began to build under 

 eaves, and so establish colonies where none existed before." Prior to the advent 

 of white men this Swallow probably attached its retort-shaped nest of mud to 

 the sides of cliffs, as it still does in many parts of the west; but, like its relative 

 the Martin, it was quick to take advantage of the security afforded by human 

 habitations, and now the nest is almost universally placed under the projecting 

 eaves of barns and outbuildings, or occasionally under porches and verandas. 

 In any event, they seem to have greatly increased during the last century, a pre- 

 requisite to the establishment of a colony being proximity to clayey mud. The 

 birds may be seen along the bank of a stream or about a puddle in the road, 

 securing a bill full of tenacious mud, which they work over in their bill and use 

 in the construction of the quaint nest. Typically this is like the half of a retort 

 or gourd with the neck pointing outward, and where they build on cliff-faces, 

 hundreds of nests are often placed as close together as they will stick, thus gam- 

 ing mutual support ; but when under eaves they form a long, contiguous row and 

 there seems to be a tendency to abandon the more elaborate structure of their 

 ancestors, for many now make only a shallow platform of mud, dependence being 

 placed in the overhanging roof to keep out the rain; all are warmly lined with 

 grass or feathers. The four or five eggs are creamy white spotted with brown. 



