132 SWALLOW AND SWALLOW-LIKE BIRDS. 



coarsely and sparsely, with dark gray, yellowish- 

 brown, and dark brown; "82 x '54 inch (plate 126). 



Nest.^ — ^Saucer-shaped, of mud and sttaw, lined 

 with fine grass and feathers, and placed on ledges, 

 in chimneys, but most frequently on the beams in 

 barns, &c. 



Distribution. — General. 



Birds of the Swallow kind are so well known by 

 all that the chief difficulty is to discriminate the 

 different forms. All are ceaseless fliers, coursing 

 through the air, or up, down, and about the land and 

 water, from dawn till dusk. All are gregarious, 

 and not only among themselves, for it is a not 

 uncommon thing for Swallow, House-Martin, and 

 Sand-Martin to consort on the wing, and the Swift 

 does not refuse to be of the company. Swallows, 

 when flying, call with a brisk ' Wheet ! wheet ! ' The 

 long fork of the tail of the male, and even the less 

 extended one in that of the female, suffice to dis- 

 tinguish them from the blunter forks of the House- 

 Martin, Sand-Martin, and Swift. Swallows make 

 open nests, generally on the beams or ledges in barns 

 and outhouses. They roost, often in great congrega- 

 tions, in osier-beds. When about, to migrate, they 

 swarm restlessly upon bare trees, church steeples, 

 telegraph wires, and similar places. The song is a 

 prattling warble, uttered as the bird perches on a 

 tree, on the cornice or roof-ridge of a house, and 

 such situations. 



HOUSE-MARTIN— 5i inches ; under parts whoUy white, 

 therefore lacking ruddy throat-patch and black breast- 

 band of Swallow ; lower back white, conspicuous daring 

 flight ; tail bluntly forked. Note, ' Pri/' 



