A Case of Involuntary Suicide 1 



By Lloyd M. Bayne 



At Intervale, our country place in the town of East Jewell, in 

 Greene Co., N. Y., in the heart of the Catskills, a singular case of 

 involuntary suicide happened in the summer of 1904. 



A barn swallow, Chelidon erythrogaster (Bodd.), built its nest 

 under the eave of the roof of a chicken house, just over a window. 

 The dwelling house is about 75 yards from the chicken house. 

 The bird used mud and horse hair in building the nest. Horse 

 hair was plentiful on a fence near by, where the horses rubbed 

 themselves and in so doing left a quantity of hair, and this no 

 doubt helped the swallow to make its home. One day while the 

 bird was busy about its nest it became entangled around the neck 

 by a long strand of horse hair. Efforts to free itself were in vain. 

 The more it struggled the tighter became the strand of hair 

 around its neck. Exhausted by its struggles it fell outside the 

 nest, suspended by the strand of hair, and was strangled to death. 



There it hung for months. While it was hanging there no 

 swallow or any other bird was seen to enter the nest, and the 

 nest finally crumbled away without having any bird occupy it or 

 visit it so far as we could see. 



1 Presented February 15, 1908. 



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