304 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



ently limited only by the facilities for nesting which the region afforded. On 

 our own place I never succeeded in putting up enough boxes to oversupply the 

 demand, although at one time (in 1870, 1 think it was) no less than thirteen pairs 

 of Tree Swallows, besides two pairs of Bluebirds and three or four pairs of House 

 Wrens, were breeding within a space of three or four acres close about our house. 

 As the English Sparrows multiplied and spread, the Swallows began to yield 

 ground. It was heart-rending to watch the spirited but obviously hopeless strug- 

 gle which they made against the ever increasing hordes of their remorseless foes 

 who, although not often venturing to attack the Swallows openly, lost no oppor- 

 tunity of destroying their eggs or young or of pulling their nests to pieces, when- 

 ever the parent birds were absent from the boxes. By such means the persistent 

 Sparrows got possession of box after box until, after resisting for upwards of ten 

 years, the Swallows were finally driven from practically all their former breeding 

 haunts in Cambridge and its immediate neighborhood. This happened about 

 1885. Since then scattered pairs of Tree Swallows have continued to nest (usu- 

 ally in old orchards) in the farming districts of Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, 

 and Lexington, but the birds have been steadily diminishing in numbers, especially 

 during the past decade, and it is to be feared that the time is not far distant when 

 they will have wholly ceased to breed in the Cambridge Region. 



At their seasons of migration White-bellied Swallows still appear rather 

 numerously about our ponds and meadows. They are also seen passing over 

 Cambridge on their way to and from the Longfellow Marshes where they used 

 to occur, late in summer, in enormous flocks. 



184. Riparia riparia (Linn.). 

 Bank Swallow. Sand Martin. 



Summer resident, once locally abundant, now uncommon except during migration. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



April 24, 1869, one seen, Fresh Pond, W. Brewster. 



April 28 — September i . 

 September 13, 1887, seen, Waverley, W. Faxon. 



NESTING DATES. 



May 28 — June 12. 

 Up to about 1880 fifty or sixty pairs of Bank Swallows nested every season 



