IS 



mencing to take flight, at tlie time the other birds leave for the south, and I have known 

 a pair or two to remain a week or so behind the main migration in order to prepare their 

 yonng for the journey before them. But this is uncommon, the nesting being usually 

 ended and all tlie young on the wing about the same time. Their first eggs are laid on 

 the last days of May or first of June." 



Mr. Stearns, in his ' New England Bird-Life,' gives a note on the Swallow in the 

 Eastern States : — " A common summer resident, especially in populated places. The 

 regular return of the Swallows occurs in April, and usually during the latter part of 

 tliat month ; but the time is very variable, depending much upon the weather, and 

 individuals may sometimes be observed in March, or even in Eebruary. Such instances, 

 however, no more represent the normal migration than ' make a summer.' The return 

 movement is in September, and rather early than late in that month, but largely 

 determined by the weather, as in spring. The Swallows are very assiduous in their 

 household affairs, nesting for the first time usually by the middle of May, reariag 

 another family late in June, and sometimes managing to dispose of a third before the 

 end of the summer — using, if not making, miich hay ' while the sun shines.' The well- 

 known nest of pellets of mud lined with hay and often also with feathers is placed upon 

 the rafters or under the eaves of a barn or other building, which serves these accommo- 

 dating birds in good stead of the holes in trees they used to occupy before the country 

 was settled. The eggs are three to five or six in number." 



The following note on a curious nest was contributed by Mr. Hugh M. Smith to 

 the ' Auk ' for 1886 : — "A nest of the Barn-Swallow having no mud or dirt in its com- 

 position may be something of a curiosity. Such a nest was found by me on Cobb's 

 Island, Virginia, July 7, 1884, under the eaves of the porch of the main house in the 

 settlement. It was rather compactly made up of rootlets and grass, and was thickly 

 lined with downy chickens' feathers. It was four and a half inches in diameter and one 

 inch in depth. In it were four ncAvly laid eggs. The writer is wholly at a loss to 

 account for this departure from the visual style of architecture adopted by the Barn- 

 Swallow ; there was certainly no dearth of mud out of which to construct a nest of the 

 more approved type." 



We are indebted for the following note on the bird in Canada to Mr. Ernest Thompson, 

 who has sent us much useful information regarding the Swallows of North Ameiica : — 



" Dr. Wm. Brodie, of Toronto, relates to me the following : — He was on one occasion 

 teasing a large Polyphemus moth to make it fly ; at length it started away, flying straight 

 upwards. It had attained a considerable elevation when a Barn-Swallow came dashing 

 over ; it seized the moth and w^ent on, and immediately afterwards the wings of the insect 

 came fluttering down. The question is, how were they detached ? there is no reason to 

 suppose that the feet were used to assist the bill." 



The descriptions of the species are copied from the British Museum ' Catalogue of 

 Birds,' and the figures in the Plate represent an adult and a young bird drawn from 

 specimens in the Salvin-Godman collection in the British Museum. 



Eor the geographical distribution of the present species, vide infra, Plate 43 [Map]. 



