SWALLOWS 



(612) Petrochelidon lunifrons 



liinifrons (Say) (Gr., rock swallow; 

 Lat., crescent forehead). 



CLIFF SWALLOW; EAVE 

 SWALLOW. ^(^5. — Plumage as 

 shown; crown, back, wings and tail 

 glossy steel-blue; forehead light buff; 

 throat chestnut, fading into deep buff 

 on the under parts; nape and upper 

 tail coverts buff; a steel-blue spot on 

 the chest. Im. — Much duller colored; 

 throat blackish, more or less mottled 

 with white. L,, 5.7s; W., 4.40; T., 

 2,15. Nest — A flask-shaped struc- 

 ture made on pellets of mud; lined 

 with grass; entrance on the side. 



Range — Breeds through the U. S. 

 and most of Canada. Winters in 

 South America. (612. i) CUBAN 

 CLIFF SWALLOW (P. fulva), oc- 

 curred accidentally on Dry Tortugas, 

 Fla. 



' 'm§- 



Family HIRUNDINID.E. Swallows 



About eighty species of swallows are distributed through- 

 out the world. They are characterized by their long wings, 

 adapted to a life largely spent in coursing the air, and the 

 small feet, which are able to grasp only the smallest of twigs. 

 Their food is almost exclusively insectivorous — living in- 

 sects, captured in flight. Consequently their range at vari- 

 ous seasons is determined by the abundance or scarcity of 

 the food they must have. 



PURPLE MARTINS, the largest of our swallows, are 

 very abundant in the Southern States and locally abundant 

 in northern states and southern Canada. Even before the 

 advent of white men to this country, the Indians suspended 

 gourds in trees about their camps and these were annually 

 occupied by Purple Martins. The practice has been con- 

 tinued ever since and martin houses, varying in size and 

 pretension from the simple gourd to many-roomed palaces 



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