354 BARN SWALLOW. 
these nests, taken on the 21st of June from the rafter to which it was 
closely attached, is now lying before me. It is in the form of an 
inverted cone, with a perpendicular section cut off on that side by 
which it adhered to the wood. At the top it has an extension of the 
edge, or offset, for the male or female to sit on occasionally, as 
appeared by the dung; the upper diameter was about six inches by 
five, the height externally seven inches. This shell is formed of mud, 
mixed with fine hay, as plasterers do their mortar with hair, to make 
it adhere the better; the mud seems to have been placed in regular 
strata, or layers, from side to side; the hollow of this cone (the shell 
of which is about an inch in thickness) is filled with fine hay, well 
stuffed in; above that is laid a handful of very large downy Geese 
feathers. The eggs are five, white, specked, and spotted all over with 
reddish brown. Owing to the semi-transparency of the shell, the 
eggs have a slight tinge of flesh color. The whole weighs about two 
pounds. 
They have generally two broods in the season. The first make 
their appearance about the second week in June; and the last brood 
leave the nest about the 10th of August. Though it is not uncommon 
for twenty, and even thirty, pair to build in the same barn, yet every 
thing seems to be conducted with great orderand affection; all seems 
harmony among them, as if the interest of each were that of all. 
Several nests are often within a few inches of each other; yet no 
appearance of discord or quarrelling takes place in this peaceful and 
affectionate community. 
When the young are fit to leave the nest, the old ones entice them 
out by fluttering backwards and forwards, twittering and calling to 
them every time they pass; and the young exercise themselves, for 
several days, in short essays of this kind within doors, before they first 
venture abroad. As soon as they leave the barn, they are conducted 
by their parents to the trees, or bushes, by the pond, creek, or river 
shore, or other suitable situation, where their proper food is most 
abundant, and where they can be fed with the greatest convenience 
to both parties. Now and then they take a short excursion them- 
selves, and are also frequently fed while on wing by an almost instan- 
taneous motion of both parties, rising perpendicularly in air, and meet- 
ing each other. About the middle of August they seem to begin to 
prepare for their departure. They assemble on the roof in great num- 
bers, dressing and arranging their plumage, and making occasional 
essays, twittering with great cheerfulness. Their song isa kind of 
sprightly warble, sometimes continued for a considerable time. From 
this period to the 8th of September, they are seen near the Schuylkill 
and Delaware, every afternoon, for two or three hours before sunset, 
passing along to the south in great numbers, feeding as they skim 
along. I have counted several hundreds pass within sight in less than’ 
a quarter of an hour, all directing their course towards the south. The 
reeds are now their regular roosting places; and, about the middle of 
September, there is scarcely an individual of them to be seen. How 
far south they continue their route is uncertain; none of them remain 
in the United States. My. Bartram informs me, that, during his resi- 
dence in Florida, he often saw vast flocks of this and our other Swal- 
lows, passing from the peninsula towards the south in September and 
