TREE SWALLOW. 353 
These innocent birds are very amiable and attentive to each other, and even to 
other birds they are very forbearing. A pair of Phoebes frequently nests in the same 
barn, and all agree well together. Among the enemies of our Barn Swallows the worst 
of all are the European Sparrows, which, frequently, take possession of the nests of the 
former, prior to their return from winter-quarters. Under such circumstances they have 
to build new nests, or they are obliged to seek other quarters. 
NAMES: Barn SwaLLow, House Swallow, American Barn Swallow.—Scheunenschwalbe (German). 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Hirundo erythrogaster Bodd. (1783). Hirundo erythrogaster var. horreoram Coues 
(1874). Hirundo horreorum Barton (1799). Hirundo americana Wilson (1812). CHELIDON 
ERYTHROGASTER Srvrjn. (1882). 
DESCRIPTION: ‘Above, glossy steel-blue; forehead and under-parts chestnut of variable shade, generally 
deepest on the throat; an incomplete stecl-blue necklace. Tail, when fully developed, deeply forficate, 
with linear lateral feathers, like the back in color, with several white spots. Bill and feet black. 
Sexes, similar. 
“Length, very variab'e, according to the development of the tail, usually 6.00 to 7.00 inches; 
extent, 12.50 to 13.50; wing, 4.50 to 5.00; tail, 3.00 to 5.00 inches.” (S. & C., “N. E. BL.” I, 
p. 181.) 
TREE SWALLOW. 
Tachycineta bicolor CABANIS. 
Puate XVIII. Fic. 6. 
Als*HE TREE SwaLiLow, also known as the WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW, RIVER or 
9 Woop SwaL.ow, has, like most of the members of its family, a very extended 
distribution. It is found throughout North America, from Central America and the 
West Indies to the Arctic regions, and from ocean to ocean, breeding from latitude 38° 
northward. It is a resident throughout the year in the Plateau of Mexico, and is found 
in winter as far south as northern South America. Many winter in southern California 
and in the Gulf region, and thousands enjoy the serenity of the Florida winters. 
From their winter homes the Tree Swallows spread northward in March and April, 
appearing in south-western Missouri usually by the 10th of April, and in eastern 
Wisconsin in the first days of May. I have seen them in summer occasionally near the 
borders of woods in south-eastern Texas, but am not certain that they breed there. In 
winter, even in January, they were tempted by the exceedingly warm weather which 
usually preceeds a furious ‘“norther,” to appear in large numbers at Houston, but they 
disappeared again after the cold had set in. 
The bird is one of the hardiest of our Swallows, suffering less than the Barn 
Swallow and the Purple Martin from the protracted rainy and cold weather of April 
and May. It is a very beautiful bird, of a lustrous steel-green above, and of the purest 
white beneath, both colors contrasting finely with each other. 
This species is comparatively quiet, and the few guttural notes which it utters 
: 45 
