322 POULTRY AND WILD BIRDS 
happy disposition. Their genial nature also manifests itself in their 
fondness for the society of their kind which leads them to nest in 
colonies and after the breeding season to collect in still larger flocks. 
From every standpoint they merit their popularity. Every observer 
should be able to find at least three species, the Cliff, the Barn, and 
the Bank Swallows. These are most easily distinguished by their nest- 
ing habits. 
611 Purple Martin. Length 7? inches. 
A large, shining, blue-black, swallow-like bird with a notched tail. 
The female is duller on the back ; her throat, breast, and sides are brown- 
PurreLtE Martin BANK SWALLOW 
ish gray, and her belly white. Nest in boxes or in the hollow spaces under 
the roof of store buildings which they may enter through a knot-hole or 
chink. We may hear their pleasant guttural twitter on the main streets 
of almost any of our towns. They spend much of their time on the wing 
catching insects as their cousins, the swallows, do. S.R. 
612 Cliff Swallow. Eaves Swallow. Length 53 inches. 
Easily identified by the gourd-shaped or jug-like nests of mud placed 
close together under the eaves of buildings, never inside. Back steel- 
blue, forehead white, much chestnut on the neck, belly white. End of 
tail almost square. S.R. 
