The Barn Swallow 139 



they are always upon the wing, now following some insect high in air, now skim- 

 ming low over the meadows, with a motion peculiar to themselves, — a flight 

 that resembles swimming or rowing in the air — so swiftly does the rudder-like 

 tail keep the balance in the rapid gyrations of the body propelled by the long 

 oar-like wings. 



The Barn Swallow is found not only in all parts of North 



„ . America, but in Alaska and Greenland as well, and it breeds 



Country ' 



in the greater part of its range where suitable sites are to be found. 

 Now, this question of nesting-sites is of great importance when we are trying to 

 account for, at least, a local decrease in the number of these birds, and for the 

 cause and its remedy. What is necessary in order to make this Swallow feel 

 at home? 



We associate him with the comfortable old-fashioned barns, with open 

 rafters, doors that could not be tightly shut, and windows with many panes 

 lacking. Here the birds nested, either in single pairs or more often in colonies, 

 fastening their cup-shaped clay nests, made of mud balls well reinforced with 

 straw, after the fashion of human brick-makers, to the side of the hay-loft tim- 

 bers or other convenient places. This nest is usually so well lined with the var- 

 ious feathers picked up in the barnyard below that before use has worn it down 

 it looks very much like some sort of furry cap turned inside out. 



Now-a-days, the new farming demands that barns and other outbuildings 

 should be tight and neat with paint, instead of covered with mossed and weath- 

 ered shingles; so that, as the new replaces the old in their haunts, many a pair 

 of Swallows drop from their sky-high wooing to find closed doors and tight 

 roofs staring them in the face. So they move on, — Where ? that is the question, — 

 for there is no reason to suppose that there has been a greater mortality among 

 these birds during the last ten years than in the decade that preceded it. That 

 Barn Swallows existed before there were barns, goes without saying; conse- 

 quently, if this were all, a return to a barnless condition should only be a matter 

 of time. Caves are known to be used to a limited extent; but may it not be pos- 

 sible that in settled places the Barn Swallow may become even further domesti- 

 cated, form the habit of coming under the roofs of the porches and piazzas of 

 those who are not too particular about a little mud and litter, as does the Phoebe, 

 who was originally a cliff-dweller? I have heard of several individual cases 

 of this kind, and it would be very helpful if the readers of this leaflet would be 

 on the lookout this summer for any unusual nesting-places of this bird, and 

 make a report of them. 



As the Barn Swallow covers a wide summer range, so does it travel far in 

 the migrations, wintering as far south as Brazil; and, as it takes first rank among 

 a family of birds famous for their power of flight, so is also this flight and the 

 preparation for it a matter of great interest. 



In the middle states, the Barn Swallow appears after the first week in April, — 

 a time when the flying insects, upon which it feeds, may be expected to be plenti- 



