416 THKOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



eaves of the houses at Fort Anderson, but probably not find- 

 ing them suitable, or in consequence of having been rudely 

 disturbed by an Indian urchin throwing stones thereat, it 

 flew away and never returned. They, however, breed abun- 

 dantly along the banks of the Lockhart and Anderson rivers. 

 Richardson and Ross speak of their abundance and range 

 in the Mackenzie River region. They are doubtless the most 

 abundant species generally distributed and characteristic of 

 the swallow family throughout north-western Canada. Their 

 nests are built of mud, and are shaped like a bottle with 

 the neck downward, lined with feathers, grasses and leaves. 

 The eggs, four in number, are white, spotted with reddish 

 brown. 



The Ottawa Museum holds as many as six specimens 

 and five sets of eggs. 



613. Barn Swallow — Hirundo erythrogasta Bodd. 



At Port Rae, Great Slave Lake, on 7th June, 1880, a 

 nest of this bird was found by itself, built under the eaves 

 of a small unused outhouse belonging to the establishment. 

 It held but one perfectly fresh egg. The parent was shot 

 and both were forwarded to Mr. Dalgleish. On 14th July, 

 1889, a nest, having but two eggs therein, was discovered in 

 a similar position on a small outside building at Eort St. 

 James, B.C. The contents of one of the eggs was only 

 slightly changed, but the other was addled and in a putrid 

 condition. The parent was shot, and the specimens were 

 sent to Washington. When Fort Franklin was erected on 

 Great Bear Lake, in 1825, many nests were found in the 

 ruins of a house that had been abandoned for ten years, 

 while at old Fort Good Hope, latitude 67° 30' north, as well 

 as at old Fort Chipewyan, latitude 59° north, barn swallows 

 were formerly observed to arrive regularly about the same 

 time every spring. The nest is usually composed of mud 

 mixed with hay or straw and lined with fine grass and a 



