346 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



crowded together under the eaves of some large barn, and a very interesting 

 community it is. 



Haunts and habits. The nests are jug or gourd-shaped with opening 

 just sufficient for the birds to enter, and usually there is one of the parent 

 birds guarding the entrance to each nest, with its little buify-colored frontlet 

 and chestnut cheeks appearing, and chattering at the opening. There are 

 birds continually darting swiftly out of some of the nests, wheeling about 

 in the air, flying around, uttering their sharp monosyllabic note, returning 

 to the nest, heading around and peeking out again — a bustling city with 

 all the occupants intent on rearing their young and destroying all the 

 winged insects that can be found in the air for some distance arotmd. The 

 interior of this swallow's nest is lined with fine grass and feathers. The 

 eggs are from 4 to 6 in number, white in ground color, very thickly spotted 

 with olive and rufous brown and lavender shell markings. They average 

 .82 by .56 inches in dimensions. 



I have never been able to understand why so many farmers will not 

 allow these swallows to build under the eaves of their barns, and even 

 encourage the boys to stone down the nests and destroy whatever pro- 

 jections there are to help the birds attach them; for these birds are 

 certainly among the most beneficial to be found about the farm, and 

 a very interesting adjunct to rural life. I hope that before the species 

 entirely disappears from our State a different sentiment in regard to 

 swallows' nests under the eaves will have been aroused in rural communities. 



Hirundo erythrogastra Boddaert 

 Barn Swallow 



Plate 88 



Hirundo erythrogaster Boddaert. Table PI. Enl. 1783. 45 

 Hirundo rufa DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 40, fig. 64 

 Hirundo erythrogastra A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 292. No. 613 

 hiriindo, Lat., a swallow; eryihrogdsira, from Gr., meaning red-bellied 



Description. Upper parts deep steel blue; under parts vary from pale 

 buffy to rich chestnut, deepest on the throat and forebreast; the tail feathers 



