BLUE OR METALLIC BLUE 501 



Geographical JDistrihution : Whole of North America, migrating to Cen- 

 tral and South America. 



California Breeding Range : Chiefly coastwise in more northern portions, 

 but local elsewhere throughout the State. 



Breeding Season May and June. 



Nest : A cup or bowl-shaped structure ; made of pellets of mud mixed 

 with straws, etc. ; lined with feathers ; attached to the side or roof of 

 a cave, or to timbers in barns or other buildings. 



Eggs ; 3 to 4 ; speckled with brown and lavender. Size 0.68 X 0.50. 



Although choosing to live in a stable loft, the Barn 

 Swallow is an aristocratic-looking bird, his long forked 

 tail giving him an air of elegance unrivalled by any of his 

 comely relatives. Among a family remarkable for their 

 swift, graceful flight he has no superior. Circling low 

 over the earth in search of the insects that live in moist 

 places, or fluttering like a huge butterfly at the edge of 

 a puddle as he gathers mud for his little nest, his is 

 indeed the " poetry of motion." 



On the inside of the barn, among the rafters of the 

 roof, is his cup-shaped nest made of alternate layers of 

 mud-pellets and hay. Once during the long afternoons 

 of late spring time I watched these little masons build. 

 Male and female brought mud in their beaks and plas- 

 tered it to the rough boards. Then long vrisps of hay 

 and bits of hair were carried and tucked into place with 

 much poking and patting of the bill. Feathers of all 

 sorts were stuck in promiscuously, until the whole looked 

 as much like a ruffled, headless, Shanghai chicken as 

 like a nest. Some naturalists assert that saliva is mixed 

 with the mud to make it sticky, and it seems to me this 

 must be, for the nest is much firmer than that of the 

 eave swallow and can be taken down intact. 



