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THE OOLOQIST 



THE BARN SWALLOW 



Bjr H. H. Johnson, Pittsfield, Maine 

 I just wish you brother ornithologists 

 could step into my barn some bright 

 sunny morning about the middle of 

 May. Billy Swallow is almost beside 

 himself with happiness. He is so 

 full of song he is nearly bursting. His 

 song is full of life and gladness, a rol- 

 licking, joyous song. You see he has 

 arrived at the old homestead where 

 he was born, to spend the summer. 

 Billy is one of about twenty-five pairs 

 of Barn Swallows which inhabit this 

 barn each summer, "lo these many 

 years." The barn loft is an auditory 

 and the horse-fork rope a platform; 

 unlike the Song Sparrow he does not 

 hold to one position while singing, but 

 faces all directions; first to the right 

 then to the left he throws his voice, 

 possibly thinking to impress some de- 

 mure, but lovely lady, at his back, he 

 turns around, all the time singing; but 

 this is not enough, Billy cannot con- 

 tain himself thus, so up and around 

 and arcund the loft he dashes, singing 

 his very best the while. You must not 

 think he is alone in this, for he is but 

 one of several others giving this grand 

 serenade. After a grand full-voiced 

 chorus there may be a pause, a silence, 

 then some joyous one starts a solo of 

 love soon joined by a full voiced 

 chorus, and the part is gone all over 

 again. But at last the loft is too small 

 to hold the joy they must express, so 

 out through the big barn doors they 

 dash each in a different direction to 

 express to all out doors the joy of liv- 

 ing; he dives, skims, sideslips, abrupt- 

 ly rises, performing many acrobatic 

 stunts of the wing, he still pours forth 

 this rollicking song. This barn has 

 been the summer home of Billy and 

 his ancestors for more than seventy- 

 five years. Some years more Swal- 

 lows return to nest than others, 

 since there is a season occasionally 



when the nests are not all occupied; 

 others, every old nest is repaired and 

 new ones built, but twenty-five pairs 

 would be about the average. The 

 greater part of them raise two broods 

 each season. Each brood consisting of 

 from four to six young the first hatch 

 and four to five the second. The 

 mortality is not great among those of 

 the first broods; sometimes we have 

 a cold rain or hail storm which chills 

 the young who are yet weak of wing 

 and unable to reach shelter in time 

 and they die of exposure. Of the sec- 

 ond brood there are more deaths since 

 these arrive during my haying opera- 

 tions, then the barn is mowed full of 

 hay to the very peak of the roof; 

 while I try to give the parents a 

 chance to reach their young, which 

 they will do though we be working 

 within a few feet of the nest; some- 

 times a nest is forsaken, or a cat may 

 reach the nest from the hay. This 

 they are unable to do when the first 

 brood is hatched, the hay not then in 

 the barn. An average number of 150 

 to 200 young Barn Swallows live and 

 migrate from this barn each year; 

 still the number returning each spring 

 does not increase. What becomes of 

 the others? In the spring the male 

 arrives first, about the last of April 

 (April 26, 1820) but within a few days 

 the females are present and then com- 

 mences the full voiced chorus I have 

 mentioned above. I am unable to tell 

 from their actions if they are paired 

 on arrival or do so afterward. Every- 

 thing is as happy and joyous as need 

 be; no fighting as you see among the 

 male Tree Swallows and Bluebirds. 



Nest building and repair of old nests 

 commences; old nests loosen and fall, 

 but I have never known of a new nest or 

 one which had been repaired to do so. 

 In gathering mud for nest building or 

 repairs the Barn Swallow picks his 

 mud; he tries to get that which is the 

 right consistency, then tempers it by 



