266 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



through the period of nesting and feeding the young, from daylight 

 to dark. Until one comes to appreciate it as does the bird lover, its 

 repetition may seem monotonous. 



The Wren places its nest in some crack or crevice of a building, 

 in a hole in an apple tree, or in a bird house especially provided for 

 it. It carries to such a place a mass of sticks and feathers, and 

 here brings up a rather large family of six to eight young. The 

 birds work tirelessly when gathering food for their brood. 



This is a bird which can easily be attracted to suitable parts of 

 the Park, about farm buildings and orchards, by the erection of 

 bird houses. Houses with an entrance of one inch diameter will 

 suit the Wren, but will be too small for the English Sparrow. This 

 bird may not be entirely desirable in all cases, for some individuals 

 have a bad habit of destroying the eggs of birds larger than them- 

 selves by piercing them with their sharp bills, an act which seems 

 in many cases to be purely malicious. 



Barn Swallow. Hirundo crythrogastra Bodd. 



Swallows are easily distinguished from all other birds, save the 

 Chimney Swift, by their long pointed wings and swift flight. Their 

 forked tails, brighter colors and different manner of flight distin- 

 guish them from the Swift. The Barn Swallow may be distin- 

 guished from its relatives, whether in flight or perching, by the 

 deeply forked tail, the outer feathers being fully an inch longer 

 than those of other Swallows. 



This Swallow is common and widely distributed in all open coun- 

 try in the Park, being commoner than any other, unless perhaps 

 the Cliff Swallow, which is a bird more local in distribution but 

 decidedly outnumbering the Barn Swallow in several localities. 

 Barn Swallows may be commonly seen in the Park, flying swiftly 

 about in open country, now high in the air, now darting and skim- 

 ming low over water or meadows. As a rule they choose a wire for 

 perching, but young birds often perch on the roof of a barn or on 

 tbe dead branches of a tree top, where they wait for the approach 

 of the parents with food. 



The song of the Barn Swallow is a long pleasing twitter, not un- 

 musical, and usually uttered in flight. Its quality best distinguishes 

 it from the twittering of other swallows. The time and pitch are 

 decidedly variable. 



The nest of this swallow is placed on a beam or against a rafter, 

 inside a barn loft. It is made of mud and straw and lined with 

 feathers. Young birds may be seen out of the nest in July- The 

 parents continue to feed them for some time after they leave the 

 nest. This evidently is a habit with all swallows, probably because 

 it takes time and practice for the young to become adroit enough on 

 the wing to catch their own food. 



Cliff Swallow; Eave Swallow. Petroehelidon lunifrons luni- 

 frons (Say) 

 This bird may be distinguished from the Barn Swallow, the only 

 other with dark blue and chestnut coloration, by the less deeply- 



