UNUSUAL NESTING SITES. 9 



ditch. Part of one end of the can liad been cut open, giv- 

 ing access to the birds. (W. O. E.) 



Chelidon erythrogaster. 



Barn Swallow. — A kind-hearted postmaster in the coun- 

 try nailed a shelf-like board against the porch above the 

 entrance to his office, intending to give the crimson house 

 finches a place to build. A pair of barn swallows took 

 possession of this arrangement and biiilt on top of it a nest 

 composed of straw and feathers. This is the only instance 

 I have known where this species used no mud in the com- 

 position of its nest. The position of this nest was less 

 remarkable than the peculiarit}^ of its structure. (A. M. I.) 



A barn swallow's nest w\as built a few feet below the sur- 

 fjice of a well which was in daily use, water being raised 

 by means of a windlass and bucket. The weight of the 

 growing young became so great that it broke the nest from the 

 moist ground, and the young were drowned. A second nest 

 was speedily begun upon a shelf of rock, nearly thirty feet 

 below the surface, and not high above the water. Unfor- 

 tunately, the result of this second attempt was not learned, 

 for it would be exceedingly interesting to know how, if at 

 all, the young were brought to the surface from so great a 

 depth. (C. W. K.) 



The nesting of another pair of these swallows was illus- 

 trative as much of persistency in nest building as it was of 

 the unusual site which they eventually chose, prompted by 

 repeated molestation. Three nests were built in succession; 

 the first, containing five eggs, was taken from a partially 

 abandoned mining tunnel, ten feet from the entrance; later, 

 a second nest and five eggs was found, and taken nearly 

 twenty feet from the entrance of the same tunnel. On sub- 

 sequent visits a swallow would fly out as soon as Mr. Knox 

 entered the tunnel, but the third nest was happily not dis- 

 covered until the eggs had hatched. This nest was about 

 fifty feet from the entrance, and under cover of partial dark- 



