70 BIRDS OF THE WEST 



BARN SWALLOW. 



"One swallow does not make a summer", but he does what 

 he can, for when he begins his "twitteriug from the straw-built 

 shed", you may know that summer is in the making. You can 

 tell him by his bluish broadcloth coat with its swallow-tails and 

 his russet colored velvet vest which he never forgets to wear. As 

 usual in bird-land the ladies are more quietly dressed than their 

 husbands, so I am not describing them in these articles, leav- 

 ing you to judge them by the company they keep. 



'i'he hrst thing that you will notice about the barn swallow 

 will be his poetry oi motion. With light body and large wing- 

 spread, he can dart and skun and circle as though he possessed a 

 magic charm that bamed gravitation, i'or miles he will circle 

 about you as you drive along the country roads, keeping his 

 mouth wide open to gather m the tlies that gather about your 

 horses. I>id you ever see them as they glide above the sui'face 

 of a quiet pond, dippmg lightly into the water and setting in 

 motion the ever widenmg circles? There is no prettier sight. 



Whoever called this little hycatching swallow a bird of evil 

 omen was either wise or foolish ; foolish if he knew no better, wise 

 if he was the farmer who iirst told it to some mischievous boys to 

 keep them from killing his swallows for they are birds of value 

 to the farmer and add much fat and contentment to the poor 

 fly-bitten cattle. 



Do not mistake them for the eaves swallows that have taken 

 the eaves of the barn for the settlement of their colony and peek 

 at you from the tiny holes in their gourd-shaped nests of mud. 

 You must go inside the barn or out under the shed to find the 

 feather-lined home of the barn swallow. Both nests are made of 

 pellets of mud mingled with straw, but the barn swallow as he 

 lives under shelter makes no roof to his house. You can hardly 

 tell by looking at the long, thin-shelled, lightly spotted eggs, what 

 kind of swallows will some out of them, they are so nearly alike, 

 but it makes little difference anyway. They will catch about the 

 same number of mosquitos for you. 



