SWALLOW LIFE 



narrowing circles above the ponds, they seem to be herding 

 the insect swarms for more convenient capture. 



Later in the season the attractive young of this species 

 are seen perching in groups among the bushes or simning 

 themselves on dead or leafless branches. 



Between the middle and the last week of April the bam 

 swallow, the most familiar and the most gaily robed member 

 of the family, comes to make her home on the rafters or 

 underneath the eaves of our barns, where she rears her twit- 

 tering young. The forehead and gorget of chestnut — ^the 

 faded bloodstain evidencing an ancient crime — differentiate 

 her from other swallows, as does also the more pronounced 

 fork of the tail and the deep buff below the chestnut breast. 



If the vicissitudes of the winter have not rendered this 

 impossible, on returning to her haunts of other simimers she 

 hastens to repair the battered masonry of her home of yester- 

 year. This home, among many others of its kind, is built 

 of row upon row of pellets of mud and straw held together 

 by the glutinous saliva of the bird, and lined with fine grass 

 and poultry feathers, the latter usually overflowing the nest. 



While the swallow is sitting, her mate treats her with 

 remarkable tenderness, feeding and caressing her, and even 

 relieving her in the task of incubation for short periods when 

 she flies abroad for needed exercise and in quest of insect 

 food. In eleven days the young appear and are carefully 

 tended by both parents. 



In two weeks' time the birdlings are able to leave the 

 nest, and in another week or two are self-supporting or par- 

 tially so. Even after they are able to take long flights the 

 parents are occasionally seen meeting them in mid-air, and, 

 after apparently touching the beaks of their young with 

 their own, dart off in another direction. We are told by 



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