346 USEFUL BIRDS. 
one who walks among the tall grass in the fields may 
notice how Swallows capture the moths that fly up about 
the foot passenger. Prof. C. H. Fernald states that while 
he and his friends were walking through the grass at his 
home at Mt. Desert several Swallows invariably attended 
them and fed on different species of Crambus in abundance. 
These observations were continued during several years.? 
Codling moths, cankerworm moths, and Tortricid or leaf- 
rolling moths are gathered from the orchard by the Swallows. 
Horseflies, house flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and crane flies are 
commonly caught. The only apparently harmful habit that 
I have observed is that of picking up parasitic insects in 
flight over fields infested with army worms or cutworms. 
Cliff Swallow. Eaves Swallow. 
Petrochelidon lunifrons. 
Length. — About six inches. 
Adult.— Dark bluish above; forehead cream white and rump light chestnut; 
throat chestnut; other under parts whitish; tail ends squarely. 
Nest. — Built mainly of mud, under the eaves of bars or out-buildings. 
Eggs. — White, spotted with reddish-brown. 
Season. — April to August. 
When the first explorers reached the Yellowstone and 
other western rivers, Swallows were found breeding on the 
precipitous banks. As settlers gradually worked their way 
westward the Swallows found nesting places under the eaves 
of their rough buildings. In these new breeding places they 
were better protected from the elements and their enemies 
than on their native cliffs, and so the Cliff Swallow became 
the “Eaves Swallow,” and, following the settlements, rapidly 
increased in numbers and worked eastward. Audubon saw 
them first on the Ohio in 1815. They were seen near Lake 
Champlain in 1817, at the White Mountains of New Hamp- 
shire in 1818, at Cincinnati in 1819, and in 1830 they had 
reached Winthrop and Gardiner, Me. They increased and 
spread rapidly over the eastern States, and probably reached 
their maximum in numbers from 1840 to 1860. They were 
* Professor Fernald states that the Crambids feed at the roots of grasses, and 
that they undoubtedly destroy a large amount of grass without being discovered. 
Professor Webster wrote him that in Ohio hundreds of acres of grass had been 
destroyed by these moths. 
