10 



the Cliff-Swallows were so numerous as to become a nuisance ; their incessant twittering 

 was considered a bore, while the litter they brought and their droppings resulted in a 

 sad breach of military decorum. Nevertheless, it was found almost impossible to 

 dislodge them, and one could not but admire the courage and perseverance which they 

 displayed in reconstructing or repairing their nests, though these were repeatedly 

 destroyed. In examining scores of nests, I was rather surprised to find how small a 

 proportion was finished into the complete retort-shape, even among those which had 

 not been disturbed. Some were little more than cups, like those of the Barn-Swallow, 

 partially arched over, and many were simply conical, while in other details they varied 

 greatly according to the position in which they happened to be fixed, or their relations 

 to each other. The laying-season in this latitude is at its height during the second and 

 third weeks in June. Probably only one brood is reared each season. Young birds are 

 on the wing by the middle or latter part of July." 



Messrs. Roberts and Benner state that they found the Cliff-Swallow common in 

 Minnesota, and Mr. Evermann says that in Indiana it is an abundant summer resident. 



To the eastward it is recorded by Mr. Dwight in his paper on the summer birds of 

 Cape Breton Island. He writes : — " At Whycocomagh, 20 miles south-west of Baddeck, 

 I saw the first flock of Swallows (mostly Bank and Cliff Swallows) ostentatiously ready 

 to migrate. The latter species was still breeding on barns in two localities I visited, 

 but not abundantly. There were not many nests, all told." 



Mr. Batchelder states that in New Brunswick he found the species common at 

 Grand Falls on the Upper St. John, and it was also abundant at Fort Fairfield. 



" These Swallows," writes Mr. Stearns, " enter and leave New England about the 

 same time that the Barn-Swallows do, and are anions- our common summer birds. Thev 

 are more numerous and more equally dispersed in settled districts than formerly ; but I 

 think that a good deal that has been written of their supposed irruption from the West is 

 to be taken with salt. Some records have been laboriously collected to show the dates 

 of appearance of these birds in particular localities ; such writing has its own interest as 

 a matter of fact, but not as sustaining ' eastward-ho ! ' theory. The ' Cliff' Swallows, as 

 their name implies, and as every one knows, naturally fix their queer bottle-nosed nests 

 to the perpendicular faces of rocks and hard embankments ; and have latterly acquired 

 the name of ' Eave ' Swallows, from the circumstance that they have readily availed 

 themselves of the eligible nesting-sites afforded by the walls of houses under shelter of 

 the caves. Therefore, the settlement of the country affords unlimited breeding resources 

 where formerly there were none ; and these Swallows have consequently become common 

 in New England. They were actually known in this part of the country before their 

 discovery by Say in the West ; but natural breeding-places, such as these birds require, 

 are not to be found everywhere in the Eastern States." 



In the State of New York it has been recorded as breeding in the Adirondack 

 Mountains by Dr. Hart Merriam, and a large series of old and young birds procured by 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher near Sing Sing are in the Henshaw collection. Dr. Merriam also 



