BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



those who ought to know that in this demonstration, seem- 

 ingly a caress, the young are being given extra food by their 

 more proficient parents. 



The cliff swallow, not quite so common, yet very gen- 

 erally distributed over North America, may easily be dis- 

 tinguished from the barn swallow, which it resembles in color, 

 by the shortness of its tail. The tail of this swallow is only 

 slightly forked. She may be further identified by a patch 

 of brown on the back at the base of the tail. The more or 

 less retort-shaped nest of this bird is built of mud, supposed- 

 ly agglutinated, without straw. Great mmabers of these are 

 attached to chffs in the more imsettled portions of the coun- 

 try, but where the region is more thickly inhabited they are 

 fastened under the eaves of buildings much as hornets' nests 

 are. 



The brown-backed bank swallow and the rough-winged 

 differ from the others so greatly in color that it is not hard 

 to distinguish them — besides, they are much smaller. At a 

 distance, a party of the former flying about, in and out of 

 the entrance of their homes, look much like swarming bees. 



The glossy blue-black purple martin, one of the most 

 attractive of swallows, and familiar to every one who has 

 ever lived in the country, is one of our most useful birds. 

 According to Mr. Ridgeway, one pair of these will destroy 

 more harmful insects in a season than all the English spar- 

 rows in a township would kill in a lifetime. Unfortunately, 

 the alien sparrow is driving this beautiful and useful bird 

 away from our homes. Since the advent of this most dis- 

 agreeable and quarrelsome of birds, many martins have de- 

 serted the boxes where they have made their homes for 

 decades. 



In spots where cattle gather, or on hot summeridays 



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