CLIFF SWALLOW. 



39; 



Richardson they are extremely abundant in the fur countries. 

 In 1 81 5 they were observed for the first time at Henderson, 

 on the banks of the Ohio, and at Newport in Kentucky. In 

 181 7 they made their appearance at Whitehall, near Lake 

 Champlain, in the western part of the State of New York. In 

 these places their increase seems to have kept pace with the 

 time since their arrival, augmenting their nests from a single 

 cluster to several hundreds in the course of four or five years. 

 Vieillot observed one at sea off Nova Scotia, and they have, in 

 fact, long been commonly known in that Province. In 181 8, 

 as I learn from J. W. Boott, Esq., they began to build at Craw- 

 ford's, near the base of the White Mountains of New Hamp- 

 shire. In the summer of 1830 a few nests were seen by 

 General Dearborn at Winthrop in Maine ; he had also heard 

 of one at Gardiner in the same State. The hibernal retreat of 

 these birds would appear to be in the West Indies, as they 

 were seen in Porto Rico by Vieillot, and one was also observed 

 in St. Domingo by the same author. 



In the Western States they arrive from the South early in 

 April, and almost immediately begin to construct their nests. 

 They commence their labor at the dawn, and continue their 

 operations until near mid-day. The nests are made of pellets 

 of sandy mud, disposed in layers until the fabric, with its 

 entrance, assumes the form of a projecting retort, agglutinated 

 to cliffs or the walls of buildings as convenience may offer. 

 From the nature of the friable materials employed, the whole 

 is frail, and would crumble in the possession of any but the 

 airy owners. The internal lining is of straw and dried grass 

 negligently disposed for the reception of the eggs. They raise 

 but a single brood, who, with their parents, after several 

 attempts at mustering, finally disappear in August as suddenly 

 as they came. Mr. Townsend says : " In the neighborhood of 

 the Columbia River the Cliff Swallow attaches its nest to the 

 trunks of trees, making it of the same form and materials as 

 elsewhere." The face of Pillar Rock, an isolated columnar 

 mass of basalt near Chinhook, at the estuary of the Columbia, 

 was rendered stiU more fantastic and picturesque by the nests 



