BARN SWALLOW. 415 



self. She alights, and with delicate steps, aiding her motions by gentle 

 flappings of her wings, she advances towards the edge, takes a few drops, 

 plumes herself, and returns to her nest, filling as she flies her wide mouth 

 with insects. Should her nest be not finished, or need some repair, she 

 carries a pellet of tempered earth in her bill, or picks up a feather that 

 has been shed by a goose or a fowl, or from the hay carries ofi* a stem of 

 long grass to mix with the mortar. As the heat becomes oppressive to 

 all animals save herself, she passes and repasses round the cattle under 

 the shady trees, and snaps off' each teasing insect. Now on the fence she 

 alights by the side of her ofl'spring, or teaches them to settle on the slender 

 dry twig of some convenient tree. There they plume themselves, chat- 

 ter, and rest for a while, until, sorry to have lost so much time, they 

 launch into the air, to continue their sport. 



The summer has now closed, and the Swallows, young and old, as- 

 semble on the roof of the barn, and in a few days are joined by many 

 others, reared in humbler situations. Each parent bird perhaps tells her 

 young that, before dismal winter cramps the insects, they must escape to 

 some far distant land, where the genial heat continues unabated. The 

 talk becomes general, and day after day increases. The course of the 

 journey is pointed out to each inexperienced traveller, by means of short 

 excursions through the air. At length a chiU night comes, the following 

 brings a slight frost, the time has arrived, and on the next bright morn- 

 ing the flocks rise high above the trees, and commence their journey. 



The Barn Swallow makes its first appearance at New Orleans, from 

 the middle of February to the first of March. They do not arrive in 

 flocks, but apparently in pairs, or a few together, and immediately resort 

 to the places where they have bred before, or where they have been rear- 

 ed. Their progress over the Union depends much on the state of the 

 weather ; and I have observed a difference of a whole month, owing to 

 the varying temperature, in their arrival at different places. Thus in 

 Kentucky, Virginia, or Pennsylvania, they now and then do not arrive 

 until the middle of April or the beginning of May. In milder seasons, 

 they reach Massachusetts and the eastern parts of Maine by the 10th of 

 the latter month, when you may rest assured that they are distributed 

 over all the intermediate districts. So hardy does this species seem to be, 

 that I observed it near Eastport in Maine, on the 7th May 1833, in com- 

 pany with the Republican or Cliff' Swallow, pursuing its different avoca- 

 tions, while masses of ice hung from every cliff', and the weather felt cold 



