992 Eepoet of State Geologist. 



Length, 5.00-6.00; wing, 4.05-4.55; tail, 2.00-3.20. 



Eange. — America, from Paraguay to Labrador, Alaska and the 

 Arctic Ocean. Breeds from Mexico (Mazatlan), north. Winters 

 south of the United States. 



Nest, a bottle or gourd-shaped structure of mud, attached to clifEs 

 or under the eaves of buildings, lined with feathers and bits of straw. 

 Eggs, 3-5; white, spotted with oliye or rufous-brown; .81 by .55. 



One of the pleasant recollections of my boyhood is of visits to the 

 country where the large barns were elaborately decorated beneath the 

 eaves, sometimes in a double row, with the curious, bottle-shaped nests 

 of the Eave Swallow. I should think from one to two hundred nests 

 could be found on a single barn, and many bams harbored large col- 

 onies. Now they are much less common in Franklin County. In 

 southern Indiana they prefer the uplands for building sites, usually 

 nesting in colonies. Sometimes, however, one, or a few pairs, are 

 found nesting by themselves. They usually return year after year 

 to the same building, but occasionally change the site of a colony, 

 deserting an old locality and seeking a new one. They now rai'ely 

 build along our rivers, though I can remember when some bams there 

 were quarters for large numbers. That would seem to be the natural 

 place for their homes because of the ease with which mud can be ob- 

 tained. But the sand in the mud is a discouraging feature that, is re- 

 sponsible for so few nesting there. I know of two instances in which 

 a colony of these birds came to a bam near the river and began to 

 construct nests. When they were almost completed they crumbled 

 and fell. Again and again they tried to build, but each- time the nests 

 fell when they began to dry. At last, despairing of succeeding, they 

 left the locality never to return. I know of but one instance of their 

 building in a town. Some 3'ears ago I found a few pairs nesting about 

 a barn near the canal at Metamora, Ind. • Before the days when men 

 built bams these birds built along clifEs. In some parts of the United 

 States such sites are still occupied. Mr. Angus Gaines informs me 

 they yet breed against a bluff in Knox County. In the days gone by 

 the thoughtless farmer, \nth his long pole; the mischievous urchin and 

 the prowling cat were their most persistent enemies. Later man intro- 

 duced the English Sparrow, which in many localities has succeeded in 

 driving the "mud daubers" away. Each year reports are made of ad- 

 ditional localities from which they have been driven.' In 1891 they 

 and the Barn Swallows were driven from our bam by English Spar- 

 rows (S. T. Sterling, Camden). In 1895 none appeared at Bicknell; 

 seldom nests any more (E. J. Chansler). Decreasing in numbers with- 

 in the last year, 1897 (Prof. Glenn Culbertson, Hanover). Are being 



