144 Tue Ottawa NATURALIST. [ October 
of the family, namely, the Purple Martin, Progne subis. It is also 
the darkest of them all, looking black from a distance ; but in 
reality it is of a glossy steel blue all over, except wings and tail, 
which are duller. This is the one also showing least fear of man, 
inasmuch as it takes up its abode right in the heart of even large 
cities, and is not frightened by the noise produced by trains, street 
cars and wagons in our busiest thoroughfares. At Ottawa I have 
noticed colonies—for they always nest in colonies—at the Canada 
Atlantic Railway freight sheds, on Rideau street and in other places. 
Its song is a melodious chuckling, twittering. It can be easily 
distinguished from Blackbirds by its more graceful gelding flight, 
its shorter, little-forked tail and its notes. It takes kindly to bird 
houses provided by man ; but they must be made large enough to 
afford room for several pairs. Their nesting near one’s home 
should be encouraged by all means, since they do away with an 
immense number of flies and other pests. 
The beginning of May brings two more Swallows, the Barn 
and Cliff Swallows, and these two need closer inspection than the 
first to separate them. The lovable Barn Swallow, Chelidon 
erythrogaster, can best be told by the deeply forked tazt, the only 
Swallow having this ; in flight, however, it keeps the tail closed ; 
then the next best characteristic is that the under parts are entirely 
brown, the whole upper surface steel blue. The song is a merry 
twittering. The nest is built of mud under the eaves of barns, CLGas 
sometimes in them. - It also should be protected by all means, 
because it is a friend to the farmer on account of its great insect- 
destroying propensities. 
The Cliff or Eave Swallow, Petrochelidon lunifrons, may at 
first sight be confounded with the preceding species on account of 
the general likeness in size and colour. But it has not that deeply 
forked tail. Furthermore, its forehead is whttish, and the upper 
tail coverts are light brown or yellowish. Otherwise, it is also steel 
blue above and brown on throat and breast ; but the belly is white, 
not brown like in the Barn Swallow. So, when you see a Swallow 
flying away from you, that has alight spot or area between the back 
and tail, put it down asa Cliff Swallow. ‘This name really holds 
good no longer ; for it has in most places adapted itself to civiliza- 
tion, building its mud nest no more against the sides of cliffs, but, 
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