200 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 97 



The Bachman Sparrow and Lark Sparrow were both found to 

 be breeding here this last summer (1916). 



James D. Watson, 

 LaGrange, 111. (Cook County). Edmund Huesberg. 



REMARKABLE NESTING OF CLIFF SWALLOWS. 



That the cliff swallow is a bird of much adaptability is evi- 

 denced by the fact that it has taken to modern improvements and 

 now very generally plasters its curious gourd-shaped nests under 

 the eaves of various buildings, usually barns. A few colonies still 

 cling to their ancestral habits, building against the cliffs; but most 

 have abandoned the old way for the new. 



During the summer of 1916 the writer was privileged to observe 

 a still further degree of adaptability. Away up in the backwoods 

 of Eastern Maine, in Washington County, thirty miles from the 

 sea, an opening in the ancient wood marks the site of an old farm, 

 long since abandoned. Some 'of the buildings, including the house, 

 are gone. The great barn, however, built of massive timbers 

 squared with a broad-axe, fastened together with wooden pins 

 and covered with split-cedar shingles smoothed with the draw- 

 shave, four feet long and laid two feet to the Aveather, still stands, 

 and firm. Another building is verging toward ruin. The place is 

 known far and wide as the "Bacon Farm." 



For many years the cliff swallows have nested upon the great 

 barn in a large colony of several hundred birds. An examination 

 of the place this summer (1916) disclosed the interesting fact that 

 a few pairs had abandoned the eaves and built inside the big barn, 

 side by side with the barn swallows. An examination of the 

 smaller building revealed many .hests similarly located, while a 

 "lean-to" shed, open on one side, harbored a number of families 

 within. It is not unknown for these birds to build within an open 

 shed, though this is rare, but the writer can find no reference any- 

 where to their nesting inside a closed building, like the barn swal- 

 lows. 



A letter received from Dr. Guy C. Rich of Hollywood, California, 

 formerly of Sioux City, Iowa, states that he has found the cliff 

 swallows nesting in the deserted burrows of the sand swallows on 

 the Big Sioux River at Sioux City. Mud pellets were plastered 

 about the entrances and the eggs were observed in the burrows. 

 No record can be found by the writer of any similar nesting. Evi- 

 dently our knowledge of the nesting of the birds is far from com- 

 plete. There is much to learn still. Even an amateur may stum- 

 ble upon some unique or interesting fact. The swallows are 

 particularly interesting, most species having displayed surnrising 



