HIIUINDINID.K- Tin: SWALLOWS. 34I 



ally increased uliuiit t'linii.s iiciiv tlie coiist. In the wild districts tliey build 

 in the caves llialalimind in the lilulls alunj;- the .sea-shore I'nmi San Domingo 

 to ('i)lund)ia liivin-. Dr. Suckley I'ound tlieni also moderately almndant 

 aliout tiu! hasidtic clitVs, near Kort Dalles, Oregon. They are nmch more 

 abundant aliout the coast than t'artlier inland. 



Mr. Iiidgway I'onnd tliis Swallow a very common s])ecies in all the rocky 

 localities in the vicinity of water, lait not .so numerous as tlie liinij'rona. 



In May it was particularly numerous in the neighborhood of I'ynimid 

 Lake, where its nests wi-re biiilt among the " tufa domes," attached to the 

 roofs of the caves. It was .seldom tliat more than one or two j)airs were 

 found togetiier. 



In July he found a ne.st that contained young, in a cave among the lime- 

 stone dill's of the cafnais of the Ivist Humboldt Mountains, at an altitude 

 of about eight thousand feet. Many of their nests were fouml in May, in 

 the caves of the tufa rocks, on the shores of ryramid Lake, as well as on 

 the ishinds in tlie lake. 



Mr. Hepburn writes that he found this Swallow widely dilfused along the 

 Pacilic coast, as far to the nortli as Sitka. In ("alifornia he found it very 

 local, common near the coast, rare inland. Its earliest a])])carance is March 

 2(j, the great bulk leave iu August, and the last stragglers are gone before 

 the last of September. They breed iu caves and crevices of rocks, and also 

 under the sides of the wooden bridges that span the gullies at San Francisco. 

 Two broods are hatched in a year. The earliest egg was found on the .'lOth 

 of April, l)ut tlu'v are usually a fortnight later. The second laying is about 

 the first of July, and no eggs were found later than the 4tli of August. It 

 is at all times (|uite conuuon to iind nests with fresh eggs close to others 

 with half-grown young. 



Mr. J. K. Lord publishes an interesting account of a visit made by a s(di- 

 tary pair of liarn Swallows to his jiarty when encamped at Schyakwateen, 

 in IJritish Colundiia. A small shanty, loo.sely built of ])oles, and tightly 

 rool'ed, was in constant use as a lilacksmith's sliojt. Early one summer 

 m<u-ning late in ,\\\\\v, a pair of Swallows juMclied on the roof of this siied, 

 without exhibiting the slightest fear of the noise made by tlie bellows or the 

 showers of sparks tliat Hew all around. I'ri'sently they entered tlie house 

 and carel'uUy examined the roof and its supporting poles, twittering to each 

 other all the wliile in the mo.st excited manner. At length the impculant 

 (piestion ap])eared to be setthd, and the I'oUowing day tliey commenced 

 building on one of the j)oles immediately over the anvil. Tlumgh the ham- 

 mer was constantly ])assing close to their structure, these birds kt.'jjt steadily 

 at their work. In about three tlays the rough outline of the nest had been 

 constructed. Curious to see Irom whence they procuretl their materials, jMr. 

 Lord tracked them to the stream where, on its edge, they worked up the 

 clay and tine sand into a kind of mortar with their beaks. They worked 

 incessantly, and in a few days their nest was tiuished, the mud walls having 



