348 CLIFF SWALLOW. 
redoubled cries of joy and ecstatic quivering of the wings, as he brings fresh pellets, 
which the pair in closest consultation dispose to their entire satisfaction. In three or 
four days, perhaps, the deed is done; the house is built, and nothing remains but to 
furnish it. The poultry yard is visited, and laid under contribution of feathers; hay, 
leaves, rags, paper, string —Swallows are not very particular—may be added; and then 
the female does the rest of the ‘furnishing’ by her own particular self. Not impossibly, 
just at this period, a man comes with a pole, and demolishes the whole affair; or the 
enfant terrible of the premises appears, and removes the eggs to enrich his sanded tray 
of like treasures; or a tom-cat reaches for his supper. But more probably matters are 
so propitious that in due season the nest decants a full brood of Swallows—and I wish 
that nothing more harmful ever came out of the bottle.” 
In speaking of the occurrence of the Eave Swallow, Dr. Coues remarks: 
“It may be remembered in this connection that a happy conjunction of circum- 
stances is required to satisfy these birds. Not only are cliffs or their substitutes 
necessary, but these must be situated where clayey mud, possessing some degree of 
adhesiveness and plasticity, can be procured. The indication is met at large in the 
West, along unnumbered streams, where the birds most do congregate; and their very 
general dispersion in the West, as compared with their rather sporadic distribution in 
the East, is thus readily explained. The great veins of the West—the Missouri, the 
Columbia, and the Colorado,—and most of their venous tributaries, returning the 
humors from the clouds to their home in the sea, are supplied in profusion with 
animated congregations of the Swallows, often vastly more extensive than those 
gatherings of the feathered Sons of Temperance beneath our eaves, where the sign of 
the order,—a bottle, neck downward,—is set for our edification.” 
When the nests of a large colony are invaded by a strange object, these Swallows 
manifest great uneasiness, collecting in a swarm over the head of the intruder, flying 
and wheeling around, uttering loud notes of anguish, and even flying near his head, as 
if to attack him. 
The eggs, four to five in number, are white, marked with dots and blotches of 
reddish-brown. In some cases they are so much like those of the Barn Swallow, that 
they are not distinguishable. 
NAMES: CuirF SwaLLtow, Eave SwaLLow, Crescent Swallow, Mud Swallow, Republican (Audubon), 
White-fronted Swallow, Rocky Mountain Swallow.—Traufschwalbe (German). 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Hirundo lunifrons Say (1823). Cecropis lunifrons Boie (1828). PETROCHELIDON 
LUNIFRONS Bairp (1865). Hirundo republicana Aud. (1824). 
DESCRIPTION: ‘Above, glossy steel-blue; a blue-black spot on the throat; rump, rufous; a white or 
brownish-white crescent on the forehead; throat and sides of head deep chestnut, the rest of the 
under-parts dull rusty-gray, or grayish-brown, becoming paler on the belly; much of the under-parts 
with dusky sharp lines on the individual feathers. Wings and tail, blackish, with little gloss, and 
unmarked. Bill, black; feet, dark. Sexes, alike.... 
“Length, 5.00 to 5.50 inches; extent, 12.00 to 12.50; wing, 4 25 to 4.50; tail, 2.25 inches (nearly 
square).” (S.& C. “N. E. B. L. Vol. I, p. 184.) 
