206 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



nirundofulva "VlEH-L." AuD. Orn. Biog. i. 1831. 3^, pi. 58 l,nec Vieill.) ; B. Am. 1. 1840, 

 177. pi. 47.— NuTT. Man. i, 1832. 603. 



Hab. Whole of temperate North America, north to Nova Suotia, Severn R., and 

 Alaska; winters in portions of Central and South America. 



"Sp. Chak. (No. 18,322, male.) Top of head glossy black, with greenish lustre; back 

 and scapulars similar, but rather duller, and somewhat streaked by the appearance of the 

 white sides of the feathers,— the bases of the feathers, however, being plumbeous. Chin 

 throat, and sides of head, chestnut-brown, this extending round on the nape as a dis- 

 tinct continuous collar, which is bounded posteriorly by dull grayish. The chestnut 

 darkest on the chin, with a rich purplish tinge. Rump above and on sides paler chestnut 

 (sometimes fading into whitish). Upper tail-coverts grayish brown, edged with paler, 

 lighter than the plain brown of the wings and tail. Forehead, for the length of the bill, 

 creamy white, somewhat lunate, or extending in an acute angle, a little over the eye; a 

 very narrow blackish frontlet; loral region dusky to the bill. A patch of glossy black in 

 the lower part of the breast, and a few black feathers in the extreme chin, the latter 

 sometimes scarcely uppreciable. Under parts dull white, tinged with reddish gray on 

 the sides and inside of the wings. Feathers of crissum brownish gray, edged with 

 whitish, with a tinge of rufous anteriorly (sometimes almost inappreciable). Nest of 

 mud. lined; built against rocks or beams; opening sometimes circular, on the side; 

 sometimes open above; eggs spotted. 



"Total length, 5.10; wing. 4.50; tail, 2.40. nearly even: difference of primary quills, 2.10; 

 length of bill from forehead. .38. from nostril. .25. along gape. .60. width. .50; tarsus, .48; 

 middle toe and claw. .72; claw alone, .22; hind toe and claw, .44; claw alone, .20. 



"There is no difference between the sexes, but the young bird is 

 very different from the adult in the following particulars : the steel- 

 blue above is replaced by lustreless dusky-brown, the feathers (ex- 

 cept on head) being margined with a creamy tint ; the neck merely 

 tinged with nifous; the throat has only a dusky suffusion, and the 

 chin is much mixed with wliite; the frontal patch is obsolete." 

 {Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The Eave Swallow, Mud Swallow, or Square-tailed Bam Swallow, 

 as this species is variously known ui popular nomenclature is, locally, 

 an abundant bird. Wherever found it occurs in colonies, sometimes 

 comprising a hundred or more paii's, which take possession of the 

 under side of the eaves of some large builchng — usually a bam or 

 warehouse — attaching their gourd-shaped nests near together, so 

 closely, sometimes, that some are built upon other. When located 

 in towns or then- immediate vicinity these colonies suffer much from 

 the persecution of boys who delight to "pelt" the nests with various 

 missiles, wliich recreation should be abridged by those having the 

 authority, since it is an advantage to any community to have a 

 colony of these insectivorous birds in its neighborhood. 



